To catch a King
by fundamental blue
Summary: E/S/G A cruel and cold Eric. A calculating and emotionless Godric. All of this changes with the introduction of our favorite telepath. Sookie will drag Godric's heart and fangs out, kicking and screaming. Eric competes with the blonde fae hybrid for Godric's affections. But perhaps he will also slowly spiral himself into orbiting her, like his maker. "Only for Sookie."
1. Chapter 1

Description/notes:

A very cruel and cold Eric. A calculating and emotionless Godric, in the beginning. In this story, Sookie is going to drag out their hearts kicking and screaming. Eric is by far not seductive in the slightest until he falls for Sookie, and this will make him terribly angry. Think Dramione fanfiction where Draco tends to HATE that he wants "Granger" (Hermione). This will be similar to that.

Godric, differently from Eric, will relish the new feelings he gets to feel once more. He'll thwart custom to bring Sookie near him. Other monarchs will laugh at how a single human has changed Godric's centuries of indifferent behavior and make bold faced threats to him. He will care less but to lop off heads and stake vampires as needed.

***Sookie***

A wrong turn trying to get to Shreveport. A sketchy establishment to ask for directions. A confrontation. An error in judgement of character. A kidnapping.

I was trussed up in a van that was steadily moving away from my abandoned car. My wrists rubbed uncomfortably against the rope bindings. Old fashioned, rope. You'd think they would have handcuffs if they were professional kidnappers.

Joke's on them though if they think my family has any money for ransom. Everyone in Bon Temp was poorer than dirt, my Gran and I included.

I should have been thinking more on a way to escape, but I kept thinking about the sight of his fangs. I liked classic movies, like _Gone with the Wind_ , but I had seen Nosferatu and Interview with a Vampire. Having now met what seemed to be a vampire, they were a little less Nosferatu and a lot more Lestat.

I tried to be confident in my abilities to escape this situation. Vampires slept during the day. I could read minds and use it to dodge their guards during the day to get out. They had to have guards, right?

The van rumbled right along, and each jostle took away my certainty of escape one piece at a time. How many miles, what direction, how many hours? I knew many humans, including me, thought they'd be more resourceful in a life or death situation. I'd watched movies where people kept track of right and left turns as well as the timing of them in order to tell where they were while locked in a car. That wasn't me, and it wasn't like anyone I knew either.

I had been driving to Shreveport at night to pick up a liquor shipment for my boss Sam after their delivery truck broke down. I got lost. Like many small town places in Louisiana, the only establishments that could be relied on to show up every 10 miles or so were Bar-Restaurants and gas stations. I just so happened to hit a bar first.

The motorcycles in front did not deter me from entering. Should anyone even think of doing something bad to me, I'd book it. While scanning the inside of the bar looking for any violent or unstable thoughts, I noticed that there were more bikes than minds. And funny, there were voids moving around. I almost didn't notice them because they didn't produce thoughts.

In the past, I'd run into some humans who were difficult to read. Makes sense that I'd finally meet some people who I couldn't hear their thoughts at all.

The door creaked open and revealed the prototypical Louisiana bar. Wood floor that needed a good sanding and staining. Same with the bar top itself. Old chairs with many nicks and dents from years of use and tables in the same condition. The beer memorabilia was from the 70s, the neon lights showing off a long-standing layer of dust.

Its patrons too were fixtures of this kind of bar. Work-worn faces, calloused hands wrapped around pints and whiskey-straights. You could see the dirt and grit permanently ground into their skin from working some form of construction.

The bartender was a pale brunette man with dark brown eyes. He was also one of the voids I had sensed. The stillness of him as he and the other patrons looked at me was eerie. And not a chirp or whistle out of his head. Not like the other assholes here who kept thinking about what they wanted to do with me… no, to me.

We all said nothing for a moment, and before I could open my mouth the door to the bar was pressed open again and I felt them before I saw them. More voids.

It was uncanny how well they ignored everyone in the bar and quietly shuffled their way to a back room without a look. I was facing them as they walked, curiously watching when one of the group and I made eye contact. He was a vampire, though I did not know that at the time. My mouth chose that moment to work.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little lost and I was wonderin' if you could give me directions to Shreveport?" The man stopped, letting the rest of the crowd file into the back room. He stood stationary, almost a statue, as he looked at me neutrally.

Back and forth my eyes and head went from the bartender to the man who had just entered with the other voided minds. How could they be so still?

"Yes, of course. Please wait while I close the bar up and we'll ensure you can get on your way." The newly arrived void-person gestured me towards the bar stools. I remained standing.

"Oh! Okay." What a very confusing thing to do since it was about 9pm. I hoped he wasn't doing it for me, though I doubted it. Waiting gave me the time to examine the newly arrived void-minded man.

He was also pale and brunette, but with blue eyes. Though his hair was much darker brown and he had these very old fashioned sideburns. He wore a brooding expression and I felt that prick of looking at a person who had something a little broken inside who needed some kind of help.

I should have been more concerned at the time that I couldn't read his mind, but enthusiasm for not hearing his running commentary overtook caution.

The bar was emptied, gruff men ambling out the door and revving their cycles loudly while I stood tentatively waiting, watching.

When it was only the bartender, Mr. Broody and myself left, I began to feel trepidation.

"Leave." Mr. Broody ordered the bartender. I watched him go, his boots clopping slowly on the floor as he headed to the back room.

"I just need directions… I have to pick something up and bring it back to work."

"Of course. Would you sit for a moment while I grab my laptop? I am not as well versed with these roads myself." Mr. Broody said with what sounded like false sympathy.

"For sure!" I watched him walk behind the bar and lean down, pulling out his computer.

"So where ya from?" Making conversation pushed the fear away. Sometimes when I heard terrible thoughts, I felt the same way I did now. Most people couldn't think and talk at the same time, so talking with them shut their nastier thoughts down. So instinctively, I talked.

"New Orleans." His southern drawl was comforting and he strode back over to sit down at a table. He gestured for me to do the same and I sat across from him.

"Oh that's neat! I'm from Bon Temp. Have you ever heard of it?"

"I do believe I have." His teeth were so white. And he kind of glowed up close. No, he had glowed before, much like the bartender. I hadn't been paying attention until now.

"I work at Merlotte's Bar and Grill as a waitress. I'm just helping my boss pick up a shipment of liquor tonight since the truck broke down. You know how people are without their poison of choice!" I assumed he owned the bar, or tended it well enough to know what I was talking about.

"Indeed." He said, opening his laptop.

"Now what's the delivery company location?" He asked. The man was looking in depth at his laptop, not making eye contact with me as he set everything up to look for where I should be going.

"Here's the address." I pulled the paper Sam, my boss, had given me out of my purse.

"I never asked you for your name. I'm Sookie Stackhouse." My hand thrust out and he eyed it carefully before slowly pulling up his own and shaking it. It made me glad that I was leaving soon, because while he seemed nice, his behavior was kind of creepy.

"A pleasure Miss Stackhouse. I am William Compton."

"Very nice to meet'cha. So where am I going?"

He sighed and closed the laptop, interlocking his fingers and placing his hands on top of it as he looked at me.

"With me."

"Pardon?"

"You'll be going with me."

"Uh, I don't think so mister." One of my failings was that I didn't abide by discretion being the better part of valor.

Relying on my mind reading, I could shoot first and ask questions later, if there were any left to ask. But I couldn't read his mind.

I should have been demure and non-committal, not angry. Instead it had taken one second to open my mouth and two seconds to realize I should have kept it shut.

"Don't worry, you will be taken care of and your absence will be accounted for. You'll have a new life, new identity and you'll be treated well."

"Are you seriously saying this to me right now? How dare you. I'm leaving." Real fear gripped me. Something I hadn't felt since I was a child and had been terrified of not being able to keep out other's thoughts.

I pushed the chair out, started towards the door and avoided looking at his face. Then he was in front of me, his body bearing down. If only I'd had the sense to be more afraid, staring up into his eyes. There was a soft click and he smiled, revealing _fangs_.

"Vampire?" My head tilted and he smiled cruelly before I felt the pressure. It tingled behind my eyes and squeezed my head like how a fever could make your whole noggin' feel swollen.

"Don't scream, walk out with me into the parking lot and get into the back of the white van. Stay there and wait for me."

"I'll do no such thing." I tried punching him then, but he caught my wrist. His grip was painful and I sunk to my knees while he tightened his hold.

And that was more or less how I found myself tied up in the back of a van, headed towards a 'new life'. At least until I escaped.

***Eric***

"$100,000 that Andre and Waldo fight over the same donor again." A typical night in the Louisiana king's court. I stood behind Godric, my maker, as we watched the vermin. Felipe De Castro's representative, Victor Madden, was here in fine form. Donors carefully scurried away from the careless and entitled vampire. Several fines for donor damage or accidental draining had already been incurred and paid for by Felipe on behalf of Victor. These were the kinds of things one monarch did to another; sending tiny thorns into each other's sides. At this very moment my child, Pam, was in Las Vegas burning her way through Felipe's ambassador stipend and perks. She had seduced as many donors from their vampires as she was able without incurring penalties. But whereas Pam towed the line, Victor jumped over it. Pam's actions cost us nothing monetarily. Victor was a hole-in-the-bucket for Felipe.

"Eric that's absurd. They absolutely will. No. $100,000 for over-under five minutes?" We spent our nights making bets with one another on the vermin and donors. Last night's had been an over under on how long it would take Sophie-Anne to ask whether she could 'have a word, privately' with Godric. Sophie-Anne's words were always embarrassing propositions to do 'anything' Godric wanted.

"Ten minutes for the over-under, and I pick fifteen." The two vampires in question were both Sophie-Anne's get. Her reasoning for making children who could barely get along had merit, in that it was easy to pit them against one another to maintain control. But it was in no way preferable to having loyal progeny, like myself to Godric and Pam to me.

"I'll take seven minutes. You agree?" Godric was picking the under. Often I could not tell if he was bluffing when he bet or if he didn't care about the wins and losses. Sometimes it was a bit of both, I presumed. Keeping entertained after so many hundreds of years was difficult enough for me, and I knew tacking on another 1,000 years made most things boring.

"Yes." The money was irrelevant. We were both incredibly rich from our investments and growing richer now that Godric was the king of Louisiana and I was his second. It was what we bet on that made it interesting.

"Tell me, why do you think it will be so long before the fun begins?" When Godric asked a question, I knew he was looking to show off his impending victory. I still competed, but Godric was a master of knowing what happens behind closed doors in his court. As a king should be. My job was to act as enforcer.

"Sophie-Anne will not let her children fight. She's already reprimanded them." I said casually.

"I know for a fact that Sophie-Anne has not given her children the maker's command to not fight." Of course he did.

"I know this too." I had been looking to convince him that he might lose, at the very least.

"And I know that Sophie-Anne will not be at court tonight." And there was the kicker. Without Sophie-Anne it might take less than a minute for a fight to begin.

"Fuck you Godric. You knew." I was grinning, my hand on Godric's throne as I leaned down to speak to him.

"And you bet. Without knowing." He answered casually, also smiling. Jealousy for my relationship with Godric was a stink that lingered on other vampires who met us. Many maker and child relationships were not, had rarely been, as close as Godric and I. Our bloodline was small, closely knit and our relationships with one another were impenetrable.

Godric had his council, yes, but at the end of the day he and I made decisions together, with input from Pam.

Other monarchs chose to rule by different methods. Some excelled at blackmailing or brutal manipulation, others were only chaotic and vicious in their punishments. There were lenient rulers who had the support of unsavory but powerful vampires that wanted to live in a kingdom where they could kill with impunity. A few had monarchs with many children all under the maker's command to obey and defend the throne.

None had true loyalty. Not like Godric did. Many vampires in his court were devoted to their king for his fairness and strength. But there were always vultures, such as Sophie-Anne.

"So where is the disgustingly errant vampire?"

"She has a new pet." I snickered and smirked. Sophie-Anne couldn't find a pet outside of Godric's donor supply if it jumped up and bit her in public.

"I assume then that Compton brought a donor in and failed to present it?" I stated, filling in the unspoken.

"You assume correctly. I trust you to manage it." Godric brought his closed fist to rest under his chin as he graced his court with his smile.

Compton was our procurer, and while excellent at his job, he walked a tense line with us as a kingdom. He'd never done anything outright to break the most important rules of procurement. There was always some excuse or loophole for the indiscretions he made. But he was just too good at committing minor infractions for each to be considered solely a mistake when his actions were taken in as a whole.

A procurer acquired humans to feed on for vampires. Given that we hid in the shadows conducting our business in secrecy and adhering to our own rules, we only made consistent forays into the world of the exclusively human in order to glamor them into being our donors. Compton had the unusual ability to spot exotic blooded humans and a knack for a light, suggestive glamor that didn't damage the mind of the human as much as others could.

The procurer's mistake this time was in providing a human donor to a vampire in Godric's court before presenting the donor to Godric. While everyone knew that Godric had not taken a donor in years, preferring bagged blood of all things, it was a courtesy that needed observing.

Compton would point to Godric's preferences as his latest excuse, that I knew.

"Find your own!"

"I claimed it last night!"

"It's a donor, not a pet, and you failed to show up on time to take it as yours. Now it's mine!"

It, it, it. Glamored or not, the humans hated to be objectified.

"Andre. Waldo. Come before me, now." Godric's voice was a whisper, but he barely spoke in court and it caused all of the vampires who resided here to keep their ears to the ground to listen for it. If Godric had to repeat himself, someone would lose their fangs or head.

Though the usual noises of vampires lessened, Andre and Waldo paid no attention to the growing quiet or Godric's voice. They had begun to pull on either arm of the donor, who was beginning to stretch between them. I could see the human's shoulders resist dislocation.

"Ta av sig fangs, Eric." Godric gave me the word and I flew quickly over, wresting their hands from the donor's arms before snatching both of their necks and pinning them against the wall.

"Longshadow. Hold this for me." I gestured to Andre and Longshadow's hand replaced mine on Andre's neck. Both vampires were too young to retract their fangs when in fear and I quickly wrenched them out of Waldo's mouth first, ignoring his screams. Dropping him to the floor, I did the same to Andre. Out of the corner of my eye I watched another of Sophie-Anne's children leave the room to find their maker. Excellent.

I took the fangs with me as I vamped up to Godric's throne, placing them in his outstretched palm.

"Thank you my son."

Sophie-Anne was quick, bursting into the room with her gaudy bustled dress swishing behind her.

"What is the meaning of this Godric? Am I not to be called to discipline my children?" Godric did not deign to address her, instead waving his hand at me in boredom, letting me know to speak for him.

"Your children continue to fight over donors, and instead of curbing their behavior you have issued no maker's commands and proceed to leave them at court where they cannot behave themselves. However, I sincerely apologize for usurping your position as maker and issuing punishment myself." I gave her my most winsome smile. She gave me a similarly insincere one in return. I felt a hint of smugness in her feeling secure that the conflict was over. Her children's fangs would grow back within a week if given enough blood.

"The sins of our children are a reflection on their maker." I continued. At that, I flitted over to her and seized her arms.

"For their behavior, and yours, you will be half-drained, silvered and locked in a coffin for a month. And the next time you choose to take a pet before presenting it to us, we'll kill it in front of you. In this case, we'll add it back to the donor pool. You will never feed from it again." I lied. With every listed punishment and potential punishment Sophie-Anne's eyes grew wider and angrier.

She never had the chance to respond as I hustled her to the dungeons, silvered her, plugged her body up to a repurposed blood donation machine and proceeded to take half of her blood. To her credit, she only whimpered when I finished and threw her into a coffin, instructing the guards to wheel it out and lock it in our safe.

I was back at Godric's side now, watching Waldo and Andre feel the inside of their mouth with their hands. They knew better than to dart away while I was securing their maker.

"Andre, retrieve the donor for presentation. Waldo, go to the bagged blood distributor and take two bags each. Be back here in a minute." It was not a request. Godric sat silent as I stood by his side, performing my duties to crown and king.

Andre had the donor in hand, her arms bruising under his fingers. She was still pretty, but her arms were scarred with track marks and she had that simpering nature all donors put on display. But she was sweet smelling. Even from here her scent was pleasant. It wouldn't be long before a vampire would make a mistake and drain her dry. It was at that point Godric chose to speak.

"Andre and Waldo. As your punishment, you will receive only one bag of donor blood a week for the month that your maker is imprisoned. During this time Andre will take charge of Sophie-Anne's new pet." Andre sighed with relief. The real punishment for the two children would be when Sophie-Anne was released. They seemed to think if they had the pet, it would go easier on them.

"You will turn her in two weeks time. If she dies as a human or meets the true death as a vampire by your hand or orders, you will all be staked. Which you can take to mean that if she dies at all and doesn't rise a vampire, you'll meet the true death together." I continued.

"Court is dismissed." We closed up shop early, leaving our constituents to gossip about the night's events.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews peeps! A lot of those who have read my other story are glomming onto this one in the best way. Since writing two is a lot more than one, I may start bottlenecking with my chapters. So I guess I ask you guys which story you would prefer to see updated more frequently. Feel free to PM. Thanks!

***Sookie***

I'd arrived somewhere. The passenger and driver's door slammed and I heard the back open. I was slung over someone's shoulder in a fireman's carry. With the blood rushing to my head, all I could see was gravel and the back of the legs of whoever was carrying me. I assumed it was Mr. Compton.

Rage took over, zero to sixty, and I started kicking up to get my heel in the man's face and pounding his back with my fists. Throwing myself forward, I hoped to make him off balanced enough to drop me, even if it was on my head.

"I'm callin' the police when I get free buster! So you better let me go right now!"

His grip only got tighter until I could feel his fingers digging into my legs. I hated that my assault was going unnoticed.

"I have people who will come lookin' for me! And they'll be madder 'n hell when I'm not found!"

That earned me a chuckle, just before I was slung down onto a couch. I'd hardly noticed we had crossed from gravel to concrete to carpet, with a door opening and closing.

The blood rushed away from my head and I dizzily looked at my captor. Bill was there and he had a positively frightening expression on his face before he turned to leave.

The door slammed shut and I was alone in my surroundings. It was ornate in here. Overly so, with the couch actually being a chaise lounge with velvet fabric, velvet curtains with tassels, a large oriental rug and fleur de lis wallpaper. There were no windows, the curtains hanging over creepily lifelike pictures of a beach. I noticed the two doors, one that I had just come in by and the other on the opposite side of the room.

Scaring the crap out of me, the door I hadn't been through opened before I could get up and explore the room further.

"Let's get you all settled in with the new donors." A well-dressed, but tacky looking woman with an ipad strolled in and started poking it, not looking at me. She was as skinny as a rail and had frizzy overdyed hair.

"Huh? Donor for what?" She stopped, and peered up at me, squinting.

"The vampire didn't… you know why you're here right?"

 _Did that loser Compton make a mistake? She's supposed to be glamored. I will so enjoy watching Eric lay his ass out._

"No, I don't. That asshole took me while I stopped at a bar for directions. I want to go home right now, and I need you to call the police on him." My words were cold and my arms were crossed defensively. The woman's gaze hardened and she turned on her heel sharply, muttering as she left. At least she shared my dislike for Bill.

"I'll be right back. Stay put now." She turned and told me before slamming the door she had come through.

"Don't leave me- in... here." She was already gone and I heard the lock click on that door.

I only had to wait another minute before the door opened again. In strolled a male vampire, with the woman following behind.

"All right, let's get this bullshit over with." He was very suddenly in front of me, eyes locked to mine. There was the push, tingling and swelling again.

"Whatever you're trying to do to my head, knock it off!" And then he was gone, the door slammed shut, leaving me with the woman.

 _No one resists a glamor. But I could swear she's not a vampire. They'll have to kill her, there's no other way._

Never in my life had a life or death situation crossed paths with me. I'd saved others more than once from doing something they'd regret, maybe even prevented a death or two. Mostly I'd put others in jail for murder with my telepathy by calling into the police station anonymously and telling them where they'd find the evidence. But never had murderous thoughts been directed at me.

That was all it took for me to launch myself at her. She didn't even teeter on her heels before her head smashed into the wall and she went down like a pile of bricks. I'd knocked her out cold and I quickly grabbed the ipad as some kind of insurance or proof of kidnapping before searching her body for keys. Finding them I ran to the other door and started trying to make them fit into the lock.

***Eric***

"We have an issue Eric." Rasul was in my office, looking irritated.

"Yes?" I looked up from the vast amounts of paperwork on my desk. It was our financial quarterly review, and I was going over the documentation before sending it off to our human accountants.

"Compton brought in a human. She can't be glamored." Nothing was said as we both vamped quickly to the donor intake room. We were not greeted with said human. Instead, Ginger was moaning against the wall and the door leading outside was open, keys hanging from the lock. I noted that the iPad was gone.

"Stay and take care of Ginger." I zipped out the door to track the escapee. The trail stopped at an empty spot where we parked our vehicles. It was surrounded by other cars, informing me that the parking spot hadn't been empty any more than a couple minutes previous. No one on our security team had thought to take the keys out of the cars because the humans were glamored and vampires were a non-issue.

What kind of vehicle she had taken was beyond me, but I did know there was only one entrance. I smirked and took flight.

***Sookie***

I drove out of the parking lot, following the way I thought led out of here. I knew it was important to maintain a normal speed and blend in with the surroundings.

Luck was with me and I saw the gate, lights and guard posts up ahead. It clicked that they weren't going to let me out if I said pretty please.

I didn't want to hurt anyone, but they did kidnap me and it didn't seem like they were going to let me go. That woman thought they'd kill me. So it was me or them.

 _I picked me._

The screeching of the tires as I abruptly hit the gas pedal sounded the alert and I watched as a few dark figures started to react. Thank god they were too slow to get in the way because I was going to break that fucking gate down.

I was seconds away from crashing into it and about to close my eyes when a tall blonde man was suddenly in front of the car, smiling.

So I did what any decent christian would do; I slammed on the brakes and turned the car away from him.

***Eric***

Making it just in time to prevent the human from leaving, I watched her make an attempt to not crash into me. Lucky for her, because the car would have wrapped itself around my body and would have more likely resulted in her injury rather than mine.

Preventing any property damage besides the truck, I dug my fingers into the hood as the car veered away, letting it swing back around me. After stealing its momentum it came to a screeching stop, it's back end now facing the gate and the human inside having been slammed up against the seat.

"Stand down." The Weres started rushing in to help, embarrassed to have been so close to death and losing an asset. The driver door opened and a curvy blonde fell out, scuffing her legs on the concrete. Without looking at any of us, she stumbled up to her feet and took off running.

All of the Weres smiled and I nodded my acknowledgement to them before going to hunt.

***Sookie***

My flight mode was waning as I ran. Having watched the vampires both move at incredible speed, I knew the blonde vampire was probably laughing his ass off at the thought of a human running away from him.

"Well Sookie, if this is how you go, don't give him the satisfaction of jumping a terrified woman!"

I sat down and waited. It didn't take long before I was rewarded.

His long legs came from the shadows first before the moon revealed his smug face. Once he was completely visible, he stood there unmoving with his arms crossed.

"Get on with it then. I know you haven't got all day." I said snarkily, presuming that the typical lore about vampires only being creatures of the night was as true as them having fangs.

"Why can't you be glamored?" He demanded. It didn't sound like a curious statement coming from his mouth. His voice sounded disinterested and cold.

"I don't know what glamor is, I don't know why it can't be done on me and I don't care. Let me go or kill me. We're not having a conversation." I was definitely not lowering myself in front of this dead-hearted monster. I'd miss everyone; Gran, Sam, the other waitresses at Merlotte's, but that wasn't enough to get me to beg for my life when my request wasn't going to be granted.

 _Die with dignity._

Vampires even existing right now without being found out by others told me a lot about how well in hand they had their secrecy. It was sad, that this was the end. I wanted to cry, but there wasn't any point. At least he wasn't a human about to kill me so I wouldn't be hearing about how he enjoyed it or anything.

Maybe getting drained of all my blood was a nice way to go, all things considered. I bet my heart would slow and I'd go to sleep.

He still wasn't saying a word, probably hoping I'd cave under his stare.

Much like every vampire I'd met so far, he was in my face so fast I didn't have time to register he'd moved. Again I was slung over a shoulder.

"I don't want to go back! Just do what you have to and stop dragging it out!" I had prepared myself as best I could to die when I was waiting for him, and not meeting my death broke my determination. Quickly, I started sobbing and let myself lay limp.

"Stop crying."

"I, I can't!" I sucked in a huge breath of air and it came out as another wail.

I felt a pressure in my torso and my hair whipped into my face as we moved at what could be called vampire speed to another door.

He set me down and I started to fall. The scrapes on my legs hurt, my knees ached from hitting the concrete and I felt my adrenaline finally give out. Instead of hitting the floor, he caught me and hoisted me back up.

We were in the donor room again, and the woman who I had pushed was no longer there.

"Please…" I whimpered, my energy waning.

"Rasul." The man holding me commanded, and the vampire who had tried to glamor me a second time showed up all lickity split.

"Take her to my quarters."

"No…" I whined pathetically.

I was brusquely shoved into the other vampires arms. My legs hurt so badly, I must have bruised the bone itself. I barely registered where we were going.

***Eric***

Rasul led the human away to my quarters. It did not contain my day resting location, but as Godric's second I was entitled to a separate bedroom for feeding and fucking. I'd been with Yvetta there a few times this week, my current favored donor. But her preening in front of the other donors as of late was decreasing her already mediocre appeal to me. Being the god of sex had its downsides. My donors often got possessive and full of themselves, and when they did their time with me was finished. Taking the new human into my room was as good of a reason as any to rid myself of Yvetta.

Plus, if the human were kept in the dungeon others would find out about her besides Rasul, Compton and myself. And Godric.

Rasul had already taken care of Ginger's memories. The Weres would manage the truck and any other property damage.

I considered changing the security protocols we had. It was a failing that I had not anticipated what an unglamored human could do if they were here. We had several years yet before the great reveal, but that was no excuse.

It was almost 4am and sunrise was around 6am. Ten minutes to Compton, twenty to Godric and the rest to interrogate the human. She was a Supe, even if she didn't know it. It was why I had assumed she knew about glamoring. It was unfortunate that we had no aura-tasters here, the closest being in Oklahoma. But, Godric had encountered a great variety of Supes and knew many of their distinctions by scent alone.

Unlike Weres, Demons or Fae, vampires did not possess any distinguishing attributes from one another. There were different kinds of Weres, demons had differing abilities whether they be fire demons or the kind that possessed suggestive mind control akin to glamor. As for the fairies… less was known. They tended to keep tightly to themselves after the fae-vampire war several thousand years ago. Ungodly difficult to catch, they were the ambrosia of blood.

All the vampires staying at the palace had retired to their chambers with a donor or two and the halls were empty. Bill Compton would likely be found raiding the donor pool after coming in this late.

I found Godric first in his study as he was also reviewing paperwork for our quarterly review. My maker was turned when he was a teenager in Gaul, what is now modern day France. Tribal tattoos littered his back and neckline. It made him very popular with the donors in the 90s. He was a brunette with soft features and calmly piercing eyes. Boy death, and also my beloved father and maker.

He looked up at me, expectant.

"Compton came back from procurement with a troublesome donor. She made a daring escape and almost went through the gate before I was able to stop her."

"What's the damage?"

"She tried to take an ipad, which was recovered. A truck was broken beyond repair and our intake human was knocked over, but she's otherwise fine."

"Very well. Glamor the donor. Is that all?" He was irritated with me that I had come in to tell him about something so insignificant. I had always handled security at my discretion, as Godric never cared about the details. As far as I could tell, Godric cared about old books, the pursuit of knowledge, running his kingdom efficiently and me. My maker had long since given up the pleasures of human flesh, a stark contrast to most vampires and especially other monarchs. I thought it was an effective strategy. Godric could not be easily bought with humans or blood, unlike other monarchs who slavered over new meat.

"She cannot be glamored." Godric's movements stopped and he smoothly lifted his body from his chair before walking over to me.

"Where is she."

"My room."

"You will take care of Compton and I will pay the human a last visit." Ah, the human was about to get her wish to die. Too bad she wouldn't know enough to be grateful that my maker was the one to do it. To be ended by Godric was a privilege for any human, they being so worthless for anything other than their blood.

"May I watch?" I surprised myself by asking.

"Her death?"

"Yes."

"Why?" He looked curious. It wasn't often that he did not know my motives, and that was possibly because I did not even know. She had been interesting, not screaming or begging for her life when I approached. It was normal for frightened humans to try and escape, even after it became evident that their deaths were inevitable.

I think I wanted to see if Godric would make her plead for her pathetic existence. It had been so long since my maker had drained and killed. Perhaps we would make a night of it.

"Her behavior was not like that of other humans and it would be prudent to know why she cannot be glamored. There is something other about her and I wish to know what she is before we dispose of her. I also wish to spend the rest of the night with you and the human. Perhaps we can wait until tomorrow?" The thought of being with Godric again made me hard. My maker had taught me all I knew about fucking. He was a perfect bed partner, none were so perceptive as he on what a lover needed. Rough or gentle, he could torturously deny me release until I begged, or indulge and sate every known need and those I didn't know I required. A 1,000 years and he was still deliciously unpredictable.

We would not touch the human but to feed. Rape is an unnecessary evil and I loathe those who use it. The blood would be enough, and she was very sweet smelling, reminding me of honey and the fields of flowers that rose up after the harsh winter of Scandinavia. We would be taken back to a time when we had laid in the grass together, taking in these scents.

"Very well. We will look tonight and I will decide if we save it or end it. I will wait for you before entering the room. I too am wishing to know why she cannot be glamored."

"I will meet you back here shortly." I nodded. The door closed and I was standing in front of the room to the donor pool. My excellent hearing told me that someone was slurping away at a punctured vein. I kicked the door in for effect, confronting a stunned Compton who was fang and dick-deep into a skinny blonde.

"Extract yourself." My words were devoid of emotion, not to be contradicted. The blonde whimpered as he pulled out of her, and I saw there was blood on his cock as well as his lips from how rough he had been. Hurting a donor was sloppy and unnecessary, and I despised that brand of arrogance.

Compton moved to clean himself off, wiping his nether regions with the woman's hair before putting his pants back on. He shoved her head away, knocking her to the ground as she made an effort to crawl away, back to the clumps of the huddled men and women who had been lucky enough to avoid the procurer.

"Glamor her and have her sent to the infirmary. You will pay her medical fees. Come to office B."

"She's fine." The procurer snapped.

"What's that?" I had heard him perfectly well.

"Nothing." He clammed up. I strode out the door to the spare office off this hallway. We had many, all sound proofed and bugged. My iphone connected to the security system and I disabled all the listening devices and cameras in the room. Bill showed up a few minutes later, still stinking of fear, sex and blood.

"Compton, explain to me in great detail why Godric is now the proud owner of a human who cannot be glamored."

"It was a simple mistake." It was not.

"Yes, procuring a human who cannot be controlled by glamor is a simple mistake. No, Compton. I think you are fucking incompetent. He will be most displeased with your ineptitude."

"In my defense," he drawled, "have you ever heard of a human who cannot be glamored?" I had not.

"Irrelevant. Snatching a human before calming them with glamor is careless at best and negligent of your duties at worst. Did you reveal yourself as a vampire? Because that would be the proverbial nail in the coffin."

"This is a hedge case scenario that I do not believe I should be punished for. I have done my duty well for years." His voice became smooth, more professional. Also oily and devious. Irritating.

"I'll take that as a fucking yes. You are a lazy, negligent fuck. No more access to donors and you will not leave the compound. Bagged blood only. And… You will take over as errand boy for the week. For all vampires who require it."

"As I said, it was a mistake on my part, one not to be repeated. Surely, since that is a job done by humans it would be too harsh a punishment." He was doing his best to convince me that he was contrite and conciliatory. I was in no mood to acquiesce to his subtle pleas for mercy.

"It's that or a year in the coffin with silver, _Billiam_. And I don't think you're old enough to survive that." Most definitely not. His maker was weak, as her maker was. A vampire's strength was determined by the age of his or her blood in the line. Godric being 2,000 years and myself being 1,000, Pam was a great deal stronger than many other vampires. Bill's line had Lorena, a vampire at 800, who had been turned by a vampire not more than a decade older than she. Then she had killed her maker, who had no maker himself, leaving only about 1,000 years of power in their blood.

I continued, "this is entirely on you. The human escaped and she almost made it out of the palace grounds, with an ipad full of information on our entire existence. Now. I can't put you in charge of any humans, because I think you are unscrupulous enough to glamor them for whatever you need instead of taking your punishment like a vampire. For the same reasons I cannot trust you to guard the compound. So yes, this is entirely on you and your consistently provocative procuring methods."

Compton was a seething mess hiding behind a thin veneer of calm. Vampires who had made it over the 100 year mark but not above 3 or 4 lifetimes were like teacup humans. Always thinking that outliving their normal death-day made them truly immortal and throwing tantrums about how special they were to have lived so long. They had forgotten that stakes, silver and the sun were the great equalizers of all vampires. You would think the american vampire in front of me had hung the moon, given how much concern for his welfare he expected from others.

"The next time you need a favor Northman, don't expect it." He said coldly.

"I'm sure I will suffer immensely from your lack of support." I deadpanned before continuing, "secondary to this, when you have your job back you will never again violate the rule of failing to present donors to Godric before adding them to the pool. And I am referencing that disgusting drug-addict blonde you procured for Sophie-Anne."

"Of course, Northman. Do you have further need of me?"

"No."

Without another word, Compton stood and strode out the door. I'd be petitioning Godric to pay his maker so I could destroy him. If Lorena refused, I'd end her before again asking for Bill's life.

Rising, I flipped the cameras and microphones back on before making my way to Godric's office.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you Suzy! :)

Since this story has the best review and subscription ratio, I've picked this one to prioritize. I'll still be writing the other story, but if I get busy, this one comes first. I'll announce that on my next chapter upload for my longer story. Thanks!

***Eric***

Godric had changed into a black tunic and loose linen pants.

"Do you wish to change, child?" I was wearing dark jeans and a black tank. If I ruined this designer pair of pants with blood, Pam would order me another.

"No. Let's go."

***Sookie***

I fell through the doorway, landing on soft carpet. Before getting up and looking around I did an allover body check to see if I was bleeding and to assess my injuries. Growing up with an older brother, we rough housed a lot and I was almost always on the receiving end of the worst bumps and scrapes. Those were good days during the summer when I wasn't in school surrounded by loud, blaring thoughts. Jason and I could be kids together, and he'd play with me one on one sometimes because he knew I had trouble being around his friends. My heart ached knowing that he'd never find out where I went. All of my friends and family would tear up the backwater of Louisiana to find me, to no avail.

And Gran. Oh Gran. We could barely afford the house together, and now she'd have to move into a nursing home with my death. Maybe Jason would sell our parent's home and move in with her. My grandmother Adele had sacrificed so much for the both of us. When my parents died in a flash flood, she welcomed us into her home.

I hiccuped and curled up into myself, my forehead pressed against the floor. I wasn't going to make it out of here alive, but that wasn't what upset me the most. It was that no one would know what happened to me. Gran and I would always peek at pictures of missing children that Walmart had in their entryway. I'd be one of those girls, but I'd be for sure dead. I'd be letting them down by not fighting harder to escape.

Exhaustion weaved its way through my body and my limbs felt heavy and weak. Pulling my head off the ground, I looked up to see the biggest bed I'd ever laid eyes on. Slowly I crawled over and pulled myself atop it, making my way to the pillows. If I wasn't so drained, I would have asked myself more questions about why such a large and comfy looking bed would be in this room, but instead I let sleep pull me down into darkness.

I was laying on my stomach, arms wrapped around the pillow, when I came to. My face was buried into the silken fabric. I clenched my eyes shut. I wasn't in my bed. I wasn't in my home. If I opened my eyes, it would be true, that I was still captive and awaiting my demise. I could also feel that I was not alone in the bed. My killer was here.

 _Rip that bandaid off._

I moved my head to the side and opened my eyes.

His eyes were grey-green, like an overcast sky that hinted at a tornado. As complicated as a whirling storm cloud coming towards a city, towards me. He lay next to me, having awaited my awakening.

There was no question that he was a vampire. Clearly taken at the age of seventeen to nineteen, his pale complexion was flawless. His brown hair was almost ashen, complimenting his eyes. Not a hint of facial hair, his face frozen in perpetual youth at the cusp of true adulthood. His looks would stand on that cliff forever, never falling over the edge.

In a word, beautiful.

My hand moved reflexively, wanting to touch his almost red lips. When the tips of my fingers rested there, I felt the shock of having done something terribly wrong and pulled back. Beautiful and deadly.

And then he did the unthinkable by touching me back, equally as gentle as I had. He moved a lock of hair behind my ear and his cold fingers felt divine on my hot skin. My eyes closed in bliss, and I knew I was a fool for enjoying it. The clock was ticking away on my life, and here I was allowing my killer to inspire pleasure before… before what came next.

His hand wrapped carefully around the side of my neck, his thumb pushing up my chin to expose the skin beneath. Vampires bit, they drank blood. I froze, staring at him, a strange calm washing over me. If it was going to happen now, I couldn't do a single thing to stop it. Zero point in tensing my body, making it more painful when he sank his fangs into me.

Once again, I was disappointed when he let me go and rose from the bed. I lifted my torso up then, using my arms, and rotated my body around to see where he had gone.

With him was the tall blonde vampire. His arms were crossed, his expression dark as some other emotion flickered in and out. The grey-eyed vampire stood next to him, his body slightly turned towards the other man, but both were ultimately facing me and staring.

The blonde vampire moved closer to the other man. I noticed now that he had piercing blue eyes and a finely sculpted body. Though they looked physically different, I could see the similarity in their demeanor.

I watched their mouths move, as if they were speaking. Maybe they were and I couldn't hear it, or it could be some kind of lip-reading. When the silent conversation was over, the brunette vampire spoke.

"You will sleep here tonight. Tomorrow you will be given clothing, food and other instructions. Take the time to bathe and prepare yourself. I will see you at an hour after sundown."

"Why-" But they were gone.

***Eric***

"Do not question my judgement." My maker looked angrier than I had seen him in years. He was typing away furiously on his phone, arranging the human's day.

"Yes master." Feeling sullen was not an emotion that sat well with me. Godric had examined the human and determined she was 1/4th or 1/8th fae and that she had the smallest hint of demon. But it was only in her blood, not her bloodline. If Godric had not lived as long as he had, he wouldn't have recognized it.

The demon blood was not hers, but a gift of some kind, and rarely given. All immortal blood had magical intention when applied, and this was specifically a gift that gave her a little something extra. Godric wasn't sure what though.

Being a distant relative of the fae was neither here nor there. There were a lot of hybrids running around. But there were not many with the essential spark, which the human seemed to have. It was strangely and almost improbably repressed, however. Godric pieced out that bit of magic as well.

Someone, somewhere, had gone through a great deal of trouble to protect the hybrid in the least attention-seeking way possible. And that someone had connections as well as power. Power enough to mask a spark.

Hence why she would not be on the menu tomorrow night. Godric would be reaching out through proper channels to see if the human was fair game or if she could be used politically. It was irritating, but he was correct in the way he was approaching this.

While Godric had been scenting the human, I too had breathed in deeply. When I had met her in the clearing, I had caught the pleasant smell of her in the air but it was only slightly better than other donors. Now, it was a heavy, pungent sweetness of flowers, sun, honey. All things that belonged to the day. When we open the doors to my room, it wafted out gently. Walking in, it attacked our senses and we both had dropped fang.

The human was no help, her body lying prone on the bed with one leg pulled up. She was wearing a sundress that was long enough to prevent us from seeing underneath, but the way the dress lay over her ass, it made me want to flip up the fabric and see what I knew was there.

Godric had more control than I by far, but even he had a quicker pace over to the bed than I would have expected. Watching him crawl over the comforter towards her was agonizingly arousing. The images of us with her clouded my judgement and I took a single step forward. My maker's hand went up immediately and I shook myself free of the haze. The fantasy still sat at the edges of my mind, hovering and waiting for me to play it out.

"Eric." We were currently walking towards our day rest with the intention of sleeping in the same bed.

"Yes master."

"She is a virgin." His voice was a warning.

"Yes, I could tell." I growled. It wasn't the inexperience that bothered me, but that she would be far less willing to consent to Godric or myself as a result. My plan to spend a night with the three of us was ashes the moment I knew that little detail. A human as careful as she to not give herself to a man by now would never donate blood or have sex with our kind without the help of glamor. And she couldn't be glamored, which Godric had said was an attribute of both demons and fae.

When I did glamor humans, I never did it so that they would fuck me. Glamor as it related to sex was used as a relaxing tool to prepare for my bite. Sex that ended in feeding was how I and many other vampires preferred to eat. And all donors I had met only needed a few bites before they were more than willing to perform without glamoring away their worries. Such was the seduction factor of a vampire. It disgusted me to think about glamoring for sex, but at the same time I _wanted_ her badly enough that the thought crossed my mind.

"Why did you allow her to touch you?" I asked as we entered the door to our bed. He gave no response as he stripped his clothes off.

"Godric-" He pressed his fingers to my lips.

"Shh." He kissed me then, and I tasted her on his lips. Divine.

"That is why, my child." Godric pulled off my shirt and I undid my jeans. We were both naked and he led me to the bed, curling himself around me. He was hard, as was I, and I made my need for him known.

I pushed a question through the bond.

 _Tonight?_

 _Perhaps some other time._

It was the first time in a long time I had felt confident enough to ask him if he would be intimate with me, and his response was promising, for Godric. I settled into sleep, enjoying his presence.

***Sookie***

"Time to rise honey!" Her voice was as piercing as the overhead light that she had just turned on, and just as fake.

 _What the … chubby bitch ... Eric's bed? Yvetta's…._

I groaned, my body aching. I so did not need to hear someone's nasty thoughts about me right now. Even if they were being distorted by some odd white noise coming from her mind.

"Hi, my name's Sookie." I rolled over and made efforts to get up. Maybe she'd help me escape. I doubted it, but at the very least I could be polite.

"I'm Debbie. I'm here to get you all set up. Are you Eric's?" She ignored the struggle I was having to sit up. I wasn't sure whether I was thankful that she didn't point it out or offended that she didn't care. It seemed like this woman was here willingly, which made me suspect that she would not be in the slightest interested in helping me. Plus, she was friends with this 'Yvetta' character who was not going to be happy I spent the night in 'her' scary vampire boyfriend's bed.

"I don't think I belong to anyone..."

"Nonsense!" She beamed before continuing, "who are you going to feed?"

"Feed?" My voice squeaked as I finally finagled myself into a sitting position.

… _.empty-headed cow... Everyone is here to feed a vampire or work…._

The Crazy Sookie smile came rolling out like red carpet, as it always did when people thought mean or uncomfortable things about me.

"You know, I guess I just don't know the rules here. I'm glad they sent you to help me out." I oozed Southern charm. If you can't beat 'em, drown 'em in kindness.

"Oh you're so very welcome! We'll worry about your vampire later. Now let's get you to your room."

 _... thousand fuckin' things I'd rather…._

She gestured towards the door. I was positive that she was the most duplicitous and full of herself person I'd ever had the displeasure of hearing the thoughts of.

I followed her anyway, carefully placing weight on my feet, praying my knees didn't give out. We went through the door to the bedroom and when it closed, I could hear it lock electronically.

There was no one in the hall and I followed as quickly as I could hobble after Debbie, the click of her heels the only sound I could hear in the seemingly empty building. After walking through what felt like a maze of hallways, she showed me through a door to a plain room that had a bathroom attached. It was dorm-like, even if it was of a better quality than an actual dorm. I'd never gone to college myself, so I only had other people's thoughts to rely on whether this was an accurate comparison.

The room felt devoid of personal touch, and somewhat depressing. Like a cattle-pen.

"Why don't you freshen up and I'll be back in an hour to bring you to the dining hall for a late lunch!"

"Ok, thank you!" I beamed.

 _Dumb bitch._ She thought.

I sighed and walked to the bathroom. A shower would make me feel a little better.

When I got in and the water started cascading over my skin, my mind went wandering over what the people in my life were doing right now. Sam or Gran would have called the police. I bet it would have been Sam first. They'd be at the police station now, and Bud Dearborn along with Andy Bellefleur would be insisting on the 48 hour waiting period before filing for a missing person report. Jason would be angry and slam his fist down on the counter. Tara would stay with Gran until I 'came home'.

 _Don't cry, don't cry. Be strong._

Tears had a way of becoming torrential even if you intended to let only one slide down your cheek. It was too late for me; one had already found its way out. The hot water kept my face from being puffy, and I cried in silence, holding myself. The shields around my mind weren't as tight as they could be after all the stress, and for the first time in my life I'd have to be walking around with them down, hoping to find a way out of here. That alone was another reason to cry. It was painful to hear a cacophony of thoughts when I had my shields down and I wasn't looking forward to this.

Washing and crying done, the latter still looming in the distance, I went back to the room wrapped in a towel. There was a closet, and I opened it to reveal several dresses, leggings, shorts, tank tops, etc. All sexy attire, with not a stitch of frumpy.

I was lucky to find a pair of shorts that fit and had a similar cut to my work shorts, which were fairly short but with a higher waist. I donned a tank top and threw on a pair of sandals that were a little big for me, but workable. I sat on the bed before laying down. What would happen next?

They would be coming for me tonight, and I prayed that I would not be fed upon. I could imagine their fangs sinking in painfully, pulling and tearing at flesh like animals. Rolling over to my side, I shuddered.

A knock at the door told me that Debbie had returned. She opened it without checking to see if I was ready.

"Chop chop!" She didn't bother coming into the room before she started walking away. I scrambled out of bed and bolted out the door to keep up with her. I barely had a chance to close it behind me as I saw her rounding a corner.

… _don't want to sit with her…_

Yeah, well I didn't want to sit with her either!

I was still scurrying after her, trying to keep up. There were thoughts floating through the air and about 30 minds were gathered in a room just ahead. The hallway opened up on the side, and as we got closer I could see stairs flowing out into a well manicured courtyard. Sunlight was pouring into the hall and I gratefully followed Debbie into the open air.

In the center there were tables with a host of beautiful men and women seated, chatting over their food. Men in black tactical gear hovered in the background by pillars and entrances. Each side of the building was open to the courtyard and servants moved in and out of the courtyard, bringing plates of food and drinks. I noted a woman with a plate full of strawberries and nothing else, though most had what looked like gourmet food. Nothing fried, no sandwiches or other processed carbs.

... _new girl…_

 _...kind of fat…._

 _...maybe she has more blood if she's bigger?_

… _she seems nice…_

 _...I heard she tried to escape. We were told to keep a close eye out, but she doesn't look like much…_ That came from one of the guards.

"Find a seat, someone will be with you shortly to take your order for lunch." She hurried off to a table of women who had made eye contact with her expectantly. I was on the receiving end of a glare from a few of those same women and I pulled my shields up as tightly as possible. There weren't any open tables, but there were spare seats at many. Scanning the room my eyes settled on a familiar face and I almost jumped out of my shorts.

"Dawn?" I ventured carefully.

"Sookie? Oh girl come on over here!" She stood up, smiling. Her friends looked at me and then at Dawn.

"Ya'll, this is Sookie Stackhouse! We grew up in the same town together. Sookie, this is Maudette and Janella!"

"Everyone thinks you're dead…" I whispered. All the girls tittered.

"Oh honey, of course they do!" She reached out to pat my shoulder sympathetically.

"Vampires aren't out in the open yet so that's just the way it had to be. But I promise you it's worth it sweetheart."

 _Never have to worry about money, abusive boyfriends and bein' bit is a cheaper drug than anything I've tried._

I had none of those problems. I wanted to go home.

"I know this all looks real nice Dawn, but I'm just not interested in being a, um, kept woman."

The girls giggled again and Dawn led me to my seat.

"Look darlin', I get it. It's scary here and you miss your family. But the hard truth you gotta accept is that it's too late to go back. You came in last night, right?"

"Yeah." I mumbled. I had a good idea of what kind of talk she was about to give, and I was going to let her give it.

"Well they're already searching for you then. And if they find you, they'll want to know where you been. And that ain't something that the vampires can risk. But I promise you'll like it here. You get whatever food you like, the vampires are real nice, and if you're really lucky one'll take a shinin' to ya and then you don't have to feed anyone but them!"

"I don't want to feed anyone, unless it's food I'm makin' and I _know_ that ain't what they're lookin' for." Maudette reached over and rubbed my arm similarly to Dawn before she spoke.

"It's hard, I know. You miss your family and you got people who love and care about you that think you're dead or gone. But you'll get used to it here. It's not a bad place to be."

"I suppose." I did not _suppose_. Frankly I didn't care if they served me caviar and filet mignon, I wanted to go _home._ That's the first thing I was going to ask the green eyed vampire the next time I saw him, and just pray that he saw my sincerity that I'd never tell a soul.

"There now." Janella said, as she gave me a quick Christian side hug.

"You got friends here. Don't forget that." She said, taking one finger under my chin so I'd meet her eyes.

"Thank you. I appreciate ya'll taking the time." I leaned forward, "I don't think Debbie likes me at all," I whispered.

"She's a stuck up trailer-trash bitch, that one." She was barely audible and I cupped my ear to try and catch the last of what she said.

"Any way you can speak up just a little?" I asked.

"Can't." Maudette leaned in close, "she ain't human neither. There's werewolves, and they hear real well. We'll go to the common room later and talk about it." Crazy. Vampires and Wolves and whatever else… oh my.

"Ok, so what do we do for food around here?" I tried awkwardly to change the conversation. Their plates were almost empty, the leftovers of wild rice, a salad and chicken breast laying out in front of them. Dawn leaned back and angled her head over her shoulder. She caught the eye of one of the male guards hanging out by a pillar and he walked over without being further beckoned.

"Hey Quinn, anyway our new girl here can get a bite to eat from the kitchen?"

"For sure babe, I'll go get the server and have him bring something out." He winked at me and gave me the once over. I tried not to glower at him. It wouldn't do to get on bad terms with anyone here. When he walked away I spoke up.

"Does he always call girls babe and undress 'em with his eyes?" I asked.

"Yes!" The girls said in unison.

"But he knows not to touch." Maudette assured me.

"Yeah, he'll just flirt up a storm." Dawn confirmed.

The server was fast, bringing out a plate lickity split. He placed a nicely rolled set of silverware in front of me along with a water, as well as the food. It looked good and I dug in. The girls started chatting in the background about 'court' gossip.

"Did you see the look on John's face when Andre and Waldo fought over him? I knew the king wouldn't let them tear him apart but I was downright terrified he was gonna be done in on accident." I heard Janella speak.

"Eric dealt with that real quick though, and I do say," Dawn leaned in close to whisper to the group, "I'm glad that Sophie-Anne is gone for a month. Though she's gonna be real mad about her pet bein' taken away from her."

"Luckily none of us are her type!" Janella chortled. But then they stopped talking and I could see them both look at me with unease. I swallowed my bite of food and looked up.

"What? Is there something I should know?"

"Well, lately a vampire in the court who has a bad temper has been favoring blondes. She found herself a nice one but she went about it improperly'. New donors, like us, have to be presented to the king. She didn't do that and now she's all locked up. But the girl… she's gonna be turned. Which I _cannot_ even believe that she just showed up and she gets to be turned?!" Dawn looked around at her friends and they all nodded in agreement, looking upset.

"But anyway, when she gets out, she'll be looking for a replacement. You best find yourself a vampire to belong to before then." Dawn finished. It was hard to give a shit about the girl and the vampire gossip. All I saw was that it sucked.

"You gals said this was a nice place. It doesn't sound so nice though." I put my hands on either side of my plate, feeling suddenly ill.

"It has its rules. But they're not hard to follow, and if anything bad does happen… you'll be made to forget about it." I gaped and started to interrupt her, "no honey, no. It's actually real good. Everyone chooses it when something happens. And it only happens to people who make dangerous decisions. It's something that can be helped. Here, you know what, we'll help find you a vampire." Maudette seemed to be the voice of reason and comfort in this group, while Dawn was misty-eyed about living here. Janella seemed gossipy but nice.

"I think I already found two, and I don't like 'em. I ended up in someone's bed last night. They weren't there or nothing, but when I woke up next a new vampire was looking at me closely. He was… handsome, but, I don't know him, you know?" Their eyes widened with each small confession until they were practically bouncing in their seats.

"Oh! Describe him! Please!" Janella jumped on the chance to hear about my experience thus far, though Dawn and Maudette were almost equally eager. I didn't want to tell them much. My trying to escape and the fact that they couldn't make me do what they wanted with their glamoring could get me in further trouble.

"The one who tossed me in the room was tall and blond. He was mad, that's for sure." They gasped and looked at each other disconcertedly. I kept talking, "but when I woke up, a vampire with grey-green eyes and mussed up brown hair was laying in bed with me, staring me right in the eyes. And he put a piece of hair behind my ear, gentle-like before he crawled off the bed and told me to be ready for tonight." Now their eyes widened and Dawn threw up her hands to her mouth in shock.

"Sookie, tell me, did he look like a teenager at all?" Janella leaned in and pinched my arm with her fingers, tightly, and it almost hurt.

"Yeah… he did. Him and the tall one, they spoke to each other too quiet to hear. I thought they were going to kill me. Debbie came by and grabbed me about an hour ago from the room. After cleanin' up, I ended up here." I noticed that Debbie was now looking at me, along with the women from her table and a few others from the other tables. Many sets of blinking eyes and blank expressions were crawling over me and I shrunk in my seat.

"Did I say something wrong?" My words came out weak, with a little croak at the end.

"No… No… But, um. You were… you're sure? Grey-green eyes? Teenager… and the other tall and blond?" Maudette was having trouble getting the words out, and she sounded like she didn't want to believe something.

"Yeah. Positive." My head tilted in confusion. Why was this so important? Seemed like we were surrounded by vampires and they wanted us to give our blood and probably sleep with them or something. One vampire's interest shouldn't mean a thing.

"Sookie, that was the king. The younger looking one. His name is Godric. The other was his second in command, Eric Northman. Sookie, Godric _doesn't_ have an interest in humans. Ever. He drinks only bagged blood and has not once focused his attentions on a human, much less touched them. We only ever see him on his throne and no one here has ever been able to get close to him. Many have tried, believe me, and the ones that won't stop are glamored out of it. So you see, it's hard to believe… but, you wouldn't know to lie, so…" She trailed off. Oh _shit_. I looked around again and there were glares radiating from many women. I saw out of the corner of my eye a gorgeous woman with tanned skin and long brown hair get up from Debbie's table and walk towards us. She looked vicious and angry as she strode forward in her revealing tank top and mini skirt with tall, clacking heels.

"Incoming Sookie!" Dawn stood up and intercepted the woman.

"Now what do you need from the new girl Yvetta?"

"She was in his bed. He is _mine_." Debbie had a smirk carved into her face, the side of her lip curling upward. Dawn widened her stance and let Yvetta get closer, their faces inches from each other. Yvetta had an eastern european accent that I couldn't place. It reminded me of the russian mob movies I'd seen, and I got more than a little scared that she'd make me 'sleep with the fishes'.

"Hey, I'm sorry Yvetta, they just threw me in there. Nothin' happened with… Eric… I promise. In fact, I think he hates me. Really. I don't think I'll ever be seein' the inside of that room again. He's all yours, and I'm sorry if I caused any trouble." Yvetta peered over Dawn's shoulder and gave me a hard glare. Then she spit at me, the majority of it falling at my feet but the rest sprinkling my face.

"Cunt. I ever catch you again you will regret." Her fist clenched in the air, her eyes threatening violence. I wiped my face with my napkin. I didn't want to cause any trouble, but this was not ok with me by a long shot! When I stood up, Dawn stepped left to block me from her.

"No Dawn, please, I got this." My friend moved aside and looked nervous and unhappy.

"Look. I don't give a shit about your stupid vampire boyfriend. You two deserve each other as far as I'm concerned. Ya know, here in Louisiana we have quite enough low-class bitches such as yourself. I have no idea _why_ they imported you to add their numbers, but that ain't my business. Either way, you're going to leave me the hell alone and if you have something to say to me, you can say it with respect!" It wasn't noticeable to me how the guards had started coming closer until Yvetta shrieked and lunged at me. I only had to fall back a foot, my bottom squished into the table before she was wrenched from behind, her arms wobbling in front of her as she fell off balance.

"Third time this month Yvetta. You know I'm going to be talking to him about it, again. For now you're confined to your room." The guard was tall, broad and vibrantly handsome. His hair was a dark brunette and he had a perfectly scruffy beard along with clearly defined muscles that could be seen flexing under his shirt as he held the raving madwoman by her neck.

"Thank you." I said softly, righting myself away from the table, hoping I didn't get anything on my shorts. Dawn was trying not to smile as she met Debbie's eyes. If looks could kill, we'd of been skinned alive and chopped up. I could see how tense she was by how her hands were opening and closing, her eyes inhumanly dilated.

 _Werewolf. She's a Werewolf! Jesus Christ Shepherd of Judea you pissed off a Werewolf!_

"Debbie don't you even _think_ about doin' something to this here lady. You ain't nothin' to me and I'll throw you in the basement without a second thought."

"Fuck you Alcide. You're mad because I found someone better than you." So they had a history. That would take the heat off me.

 _Cheese and rice girl, how can you be thinkin' that way? It ain't right to hope she attacks him instead of you!_

"If that's how you define better, your picker must be broken." Yvetta was slowing her struggle having realized she wasn't escaping. Alcide turned and marched away with Yvetta at the end of his sentence, not giving Debbie a chance to reply. I turned around to see the girls on the edge of their seats. Dawn was still standing and she put her arm around me.

"Well I guess I don't have to explain anything to you about things here."

"I don't think I'm hungry anymore. Is there somewhere we can go?" They looked at each other and glanced at my plate. I'd barely taken more than ten bites. It was all so unappetizing now.

"Yeah we got a place. Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to all the reviewers. Sookie's age is about 21-22, since it's about 1-2 years before the great reveal. As you can already tell, there are some changes. In order to keep all the main characters and names within the story, there had to be.

Thanks Suzy Meinen for the great beta work.

I will confirm that the drug-addled blonde is indeed Hadley.

If you think Eric is dark now, he gets a lot darker. Godric isn't exactly honest, though he tries to be. People, and vampires, are not perfect. Several thousand years of subterfuge doesn't go away overnight, unfortunately for Sookie.

Compton's snagging of Sookie was an accident. As we all know, Beehl is arrogant and overconfident in his abilities. Since he was so sure he could glamour her, he announced what he was beforehand. Since killing her outright is a waste of food, he brought her back. Since he's a lazy sh** he didn't tell anyone about her not being glamoured. A feed and f*** was more important. Because that's Bill for you.

I too love some brutal vamps, but they are HARD to write. How do you make such bad***es fall in love? Who knows. All characters will go about it in different ways.

***Sookie***

"He's coming tonight then?" We were all piled on a couch together, Dawn, Janella and Maudette listening intently to my description of what happened yesterday.

"That's what he said. That I should be dressed and ready."

"So you got here, they took you in through the room and then a vampire tossed you in Eric's room? And then right after you woke up to one vampire in your bed, touching you?"

"That's exactly it." I wasn't used to lying. I never did with Gran, even if I felt weird about my disability, I always told her what was going on. Ever since Uncle Bartlett had tried to touch me and I told Gran, I always knew she would listen to me and know that I was telling the truth. But they couldn't find out that I'd tried to escape, that much I knew.

"Looks like Yvetta's on her way out! She's such a skank. Been with half the vampires here before she reached Eric Northman. Has the gall to walk around and tell everyone she's his lover and that she's the best lay he's ever had and vice versa." Janella rolled her eyes.

"Well half that is true. I've heard from other girls that he's ample and that he's… real good." Maudette said shyly.

"I know ya'll are saying he's the second best vampire here, but he looks mean and he definitely wanted to murder me when I was sleeping in his bed. I hope he never so much as crosses paths with me again. I want- I want to go home." My voice broke and I started crying.

"Don't cry sweetie. Why don't you ask a vampire to glamor you out of it? You'll feel better."

"But that's the thing, they can't!"

"Well sure they can darlin'! You just gotta look 'em right in the eye and it'll all be gone. Poof!"

"They tried! The other vampire and Eric, they tried and I felt somethin', but it didn't do nothin' to my thoughts!" My voice started to raise and Dawn shushed me, trying not to draw attention. I saw Alcide, who was now standing not that far away from us, look over. The girls got suddenly quiet as he walked over.

"Everythin' alright with you ladies?" Everyone but me murmured their assent. Alcide crouched down on his knees and looked me in the eye.

"Darlin', if you wanna keep that pretty head of yours on those shoulders, you do not go around tellin' a soul that you can't be glamored. You're lucky I'm the one that heard ya. Best you pretend you can be glamored. It'll be hard, but I'll try to keep ya from the worst of it."

"Thank you Alcide. You didn't have to save me from her… and you're bein' so nice… I know ya can't help me get outta here… but I wish… Well. Thank you." I finished.

"Not a problem. Here's a tissue." I took it and blew my nose. Maudette snaked her arm around me and Dawn put her head on my shoulder as Janella reached over and patted my knee.

"It's almost 4pm Sookie. We gotta go get ready now. We'll show you the ropes." Alcide wandered away as I got up and let the girls take me down the hall. My face probably looked horrible and feeling shitty, I let myself float along with them, putting one foot in front of the other.

We rounded a corner and I could hear the sounds of girls laughing and blow driers humming. The side all opened up to what looked like a salon. I guess it was a salon since some women were getting their hair cut. But it was more than that.

I could see racks and racks of clothing. Some women getting their makeup done. Others getting skin treatments and massages.

"Well hi there! Ain't you a southern cutie!" I was immediately accosted by a bubbly brunette. Dawn gave us a smile and slipped away with Maudette and Janella. It was so _loud_ in here. So many thoughts and I kept my shields close, hoping they didn't fail.

"My name's Janice. You've probably met my brother, Alcide. He's tall, real broad shoulders. Ring any bells?" She asked merrily.

"Oh yes. He was nice." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's get you all dressed and ready now. What's your usual style."

"I like sundresses. That's mostly what I wear when I'm not workin'." I volunteered.

"Yeah, that suits you! Very little makeup I think. We'll be leaving your hair loose. No jewelry. When's the last time you had a cut?"

"Oh that'd be almost a year. I get a trim by my Gran." I blushed. Couldn't afford to get it cut nice. Gran and I had hair trim days together, and I felt a dull ache in my chest at the thought.

"K, we're gonna pick out your outfit right now and then get you in a chair." She snatched my hand excitedly and practically dragged me over to the clothing racks. All I saw was a metric ton of clubwear-style dresses that were the exact opposite of what I'd wear. Janice started diving in, looking for pastels and white colors. I waited quietly as she ransacked the place.

Finally she pulled out a white dress with red flowers on it. It looked form fitting, but flatteringly so. Not skanky in the slightest. It was love at first sight.

"Go on honey, there's the dressing room."

I could see the tag was still on it.

"Janice, this is new. I can't afford this…" A few of the other girls near me snorted with laughter and looked at me like was a blithering idiot.

"Sweetie. Everything here is taken care of. If it helps, just think of it as bein' owned by the vampires ok? They just want to see you happy and hale."

"Ok then, but I'm not keepin' it." Ignoring the stares was easy. Crazy Sookie had a superpower and it was pretending like she didn't care nothin' about what people thought of her.

When I put the dress on and looked in the mirror I liked what I saw, except looking at my legs. They were mottled with bruises I hadn't noticed on my shins. I wish I hadn't worn shorts then. I must have looked like a clutz. Too late now though. Everyone had seen the bruises at this point so I might as well wear 'em as is.

Stepping out, Janice gave me a bright smile as she squealed and grabbed my hands to take me over to the stylist chair. As I sat down and she spun me 180 degrees to face the mirror I saw Debbie stroll over and lean up against the side of the booth.

"Guess you were on your knees all night. But I doubt you'll be a gettin' a repeat session. You look like a fucking teenager in that getup and you're probably about as experienced as a middle schooler. Let me tell you sweet cheeks, vampires like a real woman, not some stuck up prissy bitch like you." Much like lunch, all eyes found their way over to the confrontation and Janice stood stock still as she waited for Debbie to continue or for me to respond. I didn't even need to read Debbie's mind to know she was telling me the truth as she saw it.

"It ain't your business how I got these bruises, and I assure you that I wouldn't be caught dead dressing up in slut-wear like yourself. Maybe if you had more self respect you wouldn't care what the vampires thought of you. But I'm sure you lost that long ago, along with any class or decency you might'a had." Enough was enough already. I'd never been treated so cruel in my life, I swear. And my whole town thought I was crazy!

Her mouth worked to come out with an answer, but all she could manage was, "stuck up whore!" Before she turned tail and stalked away.

"You sure told the queen bee off. Best you watch your back." Janice whispered. My friends, if I could call them that now, came back and surrounded me, showing themselves to be my ally. It was like high school in here, but worse. Because we all should have known better than to act like teenagers.

"Ok you're all done! Time to get goin' now!"

"Where to?" Dawn snaked her arm out to grasp my hand and tugged. All the women started to leave and I was pulled along with them like the tide. As we filtered into the hall we merged with the male traffic. Tons of muscled and gorgeous men of all sizes filled the ranks and I was struck by how beautiful all of the women looked too. I was a little more curvy than the rest of them, probably the curviest of them all. It was petty, but I did notice that none of them had as perky and large breasts as I had and that my ass was a little bit rounder than most for the extra weight.

.. _.Tonight's the night! Henrik loves the color blue. Angela told me so…_

 _...If I can be with Aaron, I'll have to break my rule about only being a top. He's just too good a catch to have anything in the way of him choosing me…_

 _...Yes! He's invited his child to share me tonight. If I think I cum hard when Lucretia sinks her fangs into my breast, adding Raphael will send me to heaven…_

Oh dear god yuck. I needed to tighten everything up if I was going to get through tonight.

"Ok, so what's going to happen is that we're all going to be in the court. That's where the vampires feed. Now, Eric is going to ask to see the new donors step forward and Godric will dismiss you all to join us. Once you do, you gotta let a vampire feed on you if they want to. If you let them do it without fightin', it feels good. I promise you that. Ok?"

I nodded nervously and steeled myself for what was about to happen. There would be biting, and fangs. It was going to happen. 100%. All I had to do was just let it happen and I probably wouldn't die. Oh, and stay away from someone named Andre. Though I didn't think vampires introduced themselves to their dinner before they ate it. I tried not to giggle at the silly thought of giving a handshake to the wing of a roasted chicken before taking a bite out of it.

 _Nice to meet you. Chomp._

The court was a wide open space and I immediately looked at the focal point of the room, a tall throne upon which sat Godric and Eric Northman a shadow behind it. It was just my luck that they both were looking back at me, Eric's eyes burning with what must be hatred while Godric's face was completely neutral. I looked away, but I swore I could feel their eyes boring holes in the side of my body.

The perimeter was surrounded by what must be other vampires, their faces hungry. I found my place on the outskirts of the action, trying to stay away from the front even though I'd have to go there eventually. As frightening as this was, there was a ring of comforting silence to be found in all the voids. I focused on them instead of the minds of the people around me.

There was rough pinch on my breast and I backed up into the person doing the groping unthinkingly.

"You'll do nicely to replace what my mistress lost." His voice was cruel and hard. Worse than the first vampire I met and Eric's meanness combined. He was squat and ugly, his hair white and skin a paler grey than any vampire I'd seen thus far. He must have been an albino when turned. I could feel the length of him pressed into my behind and I got angry. Before I could chastise him and push his body away from mine, Eric was there pulling the vampire's hands off me. Both vampires were gone when I blinked.

I felt dizzy at how fast that had happened and I heard Godric's voice come from the throne, sounding hazy after the panic I had gone through.

"New donors, present yourselves."

Dawn helped push me forward. There were a couple more girls who looked a lot happier than I did coming with me. They preened in front of the other vampires, making eyes at a few of them specifically. I kept my head down, knowing that I shouldn't look a predator in the face. It was my goal to be beneath anyone's notice. Including Godric's.

"You." Speak of the devil. I was grabbed again, this time on either sides of my arms and dragged forward. The hall was quiet now, no talking could be heard, but that could have been the blood pressure rising in my head, blocking out all the sound with the rushing of it.

"Damage her, and I will have your fangs." He spoke so softly that I almost didn't hear him. I was let go and I almost fell, which would humiliate me further. But I was quickly caught and with my hands over the person's arms and I looked up into Godric's face as he held me steady.

"Mm." I whimpered, even though I wasn't afraid at the moment. I'd been harassed repeatedly by the women and vampires here and now I was just auctioned off like a prize cow. I was in a right state of anger. His uncaring expression fanned the flames.

"Come." He said in that soft voice and it dampened my fury against my will. Eric was there then, behind the throne. If Eric could have looked any more pissed... well, he had no right anyway to be so upset. It's not like he was a slave, taken off the street with his memory wiped away. He bared his fangs at me when our eyes locked and I stuck out my tongue at him, not really thinking about anything more than what a jerk-face he'd been.

Godric chuckled and non-existent daggers flew from Eric's eyes and I could see his body tensing.

 _Note to self: no teasing vampires._

Godric cast a look at Eric that was unreadable before he led me away, taking me behind the throne and out into a hallway. He held my one hand in the air, like a courtly gentleman, leading me onward. It was far different from the hallways I had walked in previously, containing more art than I'd ever seen in one place. Granted I'd never been out of Bon Temp, but it was a lot! I forgot I was upset, the change of scenery was so mesmerizing.

We continued a short distance before he pushed open two gigantic french doors that led into an exquisite dining hall that looked like it was meant to host weddings. Instead of hundreds of tables and chairs, a single table with two chairs sat in the middle. On it was a fancy setting of dishes, glasses and silverware with a candle in the middle.

He escorted me to take my seat, pulling out a chair for me to sit down before taking his own seat. As he crossed his fingers together and propped up his elbows in order to rest his chin on his hands, he studied me. I studied back, noting the small gleam of two fangs under his slightly parted lips. He otherwise looked clinical in his examination.

"Um. Hi. Thank you for savin' me. I'm Sookie Stackhouse." I reached out a hand to shake his, trying to be polite. I assumed he had sent Eric to wrench the offending vampire off of me. Being on good terms with the king was the right way to go, even if I was madder than hell at my circumstances.

"The pleasure is all mine Ms. Stackhouse." Instead of shaking it, he snatched my hand gently and leaned down to kiss the top, his eyes never leaving mine. I could have swore he licked me too. Maybe I could try and ask if I could leave. In my gut I knew he'd say no, but maybe he wouldn't.

"They, the girls, they said you're the king, and, if it's possible, I was hoping I could leave. I won't say nothin' I promise. I'm so sorry I can't get my memories taken away, glamored, you know. I really am, but I promise to be good, please." He leaned back, hands now on the table. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, his facial expressions were changing so fast. I must have looked so pathetic. I hated having to beg, but at this point I wasn't above it. Getting home was more important.

"I can't let you go."

"I'm sorry? I'm just a southern girl from a backwater town, a dime a dozen. I can't imagine that I'm not replaceable. And like I said, I promise. People already think I'm crazy in my hometown, and it won't be nothin' new if I were to make a mistake and breathe a word about this. No one would believe me. Really!"

"You seem sane to me. Why do they think that?"

 _Oh lord why'd he gotta focus on that. Maybe if I tell him about my disability he won't want me anymore. I'd just be a burden._

"Well. I got a little problem. Ya see, I can read people's minds… But it's not a good thing, you know? Thoughts should be private. But you… I guess your kind, I can't read, which is nice, because it's so loud all the time. I have a hard time keeping people out. There's so many people here now, and I just keep hearing whispers about all the… bitin' and feedin'. And the sex, and I'm just, I can't always keep myself together…"

"What are you?" His voice was calm, and not really curious for such a question. I kept raving like an idiot.

"I'm just Sookie, Crazy Sookie. Just a human with a disability. No one listens to me, I promise you." Maybe I was getting somewhere with him. He seemed nice, or at least put together enough to see the truth of what I was saying. I know he had said no, but I had to have some kind of hope.

"You are surprising for a human; you plead with me, but you do not fear me. I wish I was not disappointing you, but you must realize I cannot let you go." He _sounded_ disappointed. Yeah right.

I felt like I was burning from how pissed I was. I'd made my case, and I thought it was a good one. Having thought more about it, I was pretty sure I had almost made it out last time. The little voice in my head whispered 'try again'. I don't know what I was thinking listening to it right that _second_ , but I shoved my chair back and moved to run.

"Shh. I don't wish to restrain you." He was behind me, his knee jammed between my legs, an arm wrapped around my torso extending up to clutch my jaw with his other hand flat on my stomach. His lips were tucked next to my ear, tickling me with each word.

"I have dinner for you here. We will talk, only. I won't harm you, but you cannot run. You won't evade me, but if you did, you wouldn't fare well with the other vampires here. Yes?"

"I don't deserve this! I got lost while driving and that man, the vampire, he threw me in a van when he couldn't make me go with him willingly. Why are you doing this!? " I tried pulling at his hand that was on my jaw with no success, then I squirmed forward, but he jammed his leg up higher until he was lifting me off the ground by his knee.

"Will you sit and listen?"

"Do I have a choice?" I ground out.

"There is always a choice." His voice was smooth and appetizing. I did not like the effect it had on me, along with his leg between mine. I'd never felt a stranger so close to me before, excepting when I had woken up with him in the bed, staring at me.

"It ain't much of one." I grumbled anyway. "You can let me go now, I'll sit down." My voice was a sigh of defeat. He lowered me gently to the ground and pulled his leg out from in between mine. I opened and closed my mouth, testing the movement of my now-free mandible. The cool weight of his hand on my tummy left me and I heard him step back.

I avoided looking at his face as I did what he said. The bottoms of the chair skidded on the marble floor as I pulled it out and settled back in. I pretended the plates in front of me were holding my rapt attention, not deigning him with even a glance.

"The vampire who took you is being punished for taking you. He will not be a part of your life here." His words caused me to look up at him. That was unexpected. I hadn't thought about the other vampire, though it was obvious he must live here.

"Is this where you tell me you're not like the rest of 'em and that you don't think human lives are as disposable as they are here? I may come from a small town, but I'm not stupid. Humans act happy here, but it's a lie. We're all just a gigantic vampire buffet that _you_ tell us we should enjoy bein'."

"No. You are correct in your assessment." His expression looked neutral again and he leaned back, hands at rest on the arms of the chair. With his admission that he knew this whole place was the facade I thought it was, I looked at him all the harder to determine what he was thinking. Without being able to listen to his thoughts, I wasn't very good at it.

"But... isn't there a better way?"

"There will be." He said cryptically before he raised a single hand and snapped his fingers. Servants came streaming out, bringing several plates of food and laying them in front of me, cutting me off from asking what he meant. Wine and water were poured, though only wine for Godric. I watched it stick to the sides of the glass before it slowly slid down and I realized it was blood, not wine.

"I did not know what you liked, so I had my chefs make a little of everything." My stomach growled. If he thought he could bribe my cooperation with smoke and mirrors, including food, he had another thing coming.

"Now I appreciate this, but you owe me more than the cryptic bullshit you just laid on me. I may be a prisoner, but I will not submit willingly to you and you can't make me. You can take your food, the clothes and everything else and stuff it!"

"I see." I hated how he acted like he didn't care. Maybe he didn't, but he didn't have to be so arrogant about it.

"And don't be effing condescending!" He smirked, and it looked mischievous on his youthfully handsome face. There was a dimple on the right side of his cheek nestled on the length of skin that framed the crease of his smile. As he leaned forward, the loose-fitting button down shirt slumped open to reveal the faded black ink of a tattoo.

"I am like the rest of them, human lives are disposable, the humans are glamored to be happy here being our food and entertainment. We give you humans nice things in order to keep you happy so that you don't struggle when we want to feed. But for the most part, most humans willingly choose to look the other way regarding the whys and hows of their being here." His voice was quiet but harsh and his face looked mesmerizing seeing it through the steam coming from the many plates of hot food. Remembering how Dawn kept insisting how _nice_ it was here, I reasoned that he was right. Humans may know this was a death trap, but to them maybe their previous lives were bad enough that risking death nightly wasn't the worst thing, as long as it netted them a lot of other benefits. I leaned over and imitated his still-present smile.

"Well I'm not interested in being food, which means I'm useless to you. And since tall, blonde and rapacious didn't oblige, I'll say it again: get it over with." That was my word of the day several weeks ago, rapacious. Never thought I'd have a chance to use it, much less on a supernatural being who had just restrained me a second after I had stepped away from my chair to run.

"No. Eat first, then we'll talk about what you are. I won't be ending your life today, or likely the next and beyond. You did not eat more than two bites of your lunch." His smile widened and I saw his fangs. My asking him to hurry up and do me in forgotten, I shouted at him.

"You're watching me?!" My smile gone, I placed my hands flat on the table in order to raise myself up off my seat slightly, keeping my head level with his.

"I have my sources." He did the same and I realized that putting myself closer to him was dumb. I quickly backed down and pushed my back up tight against the back rest of the chair.

"I'll eat, if you stop getting 'reports' on me." His responding laugh was so human and it echoed around the mostly empty room.

"I can't eat all this food either," I continued. "You should take these away and feed them to someone else. I'll keep the ravioli dish here." The laughter stopped abruptly and he looked at me, staring deeply into my eyes before he snapped his fingers again. The servants, who had evaporated after delivering the food, faded back into the room snatching up the spare plates, taking them out as fast as they had come in.

"You will agree to eat, and I will stop ensuring you do." For a vampire, it sounded like he gave a shit. Or he was mad at my defiance. Better not risk that it was the latter.

"I'll eat. But I won't give you my blood and I don't want your stupid handouts. I don't need a haircut or styling every day. I'll just stick to my room." I looked down at the plate of pasta, still irritated. It smelled divine and I hated that it did.

"Sookie." His voice was a caress, like he was trying my name on for size and wondering if it fit. He continued, "You present a problem."

 _Duh._

"I'll try hard to not be one for you. I'll stay out of your hair and everything. Just leave me alone." Of course because he couldn't glamor me, I'd be trouble for them unless I was dead. Though why they weren't defaulting to the latter decision frustrated and evaded me.

"Out of my hair? But you are not in it." I loved the look of perplexion on his face, it was so sincere. He sounded like he hadn't been confused in a long time.

"It's a figure of speech, because getting things in one's hair is not fun. What I mean is, I will do my best to stay out of your way." He smiled again, this time he looked genuinely mirthful instead of impish and I again liked the expression on his face. Did I have stockholm syndrome already?

"I don't want you to stay out of my way. What you can do for me is tell me what you are and who your family is." Godric was using his serious face again, trying to look foreboding. Maybe he shouldn't have shown me his lighter side, because I was having a hard time feeling afraid of him.

"I'm not going to talk about anything until I've eaten." I couldn't imagine a world in which a vampire cared anything at all about my family. The Stackhouses were as normal as a southern family could get, my parent's death in a flash flood aside.

"But you haven't touched your plate." He sounded congenial, pointing that fact out kindly.

"We've been busy talking." I sassed.

"Do you require me to feed you?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely not!" I shouted, slamming my fork on the side of the plate unthinkingly. It got a laugh out of him and he leaned back, crossing his arms in satisfaction.

I ate slowly. Staring him down as I methodically chewed each bite and swallowed. It was uncomfortable, the way he was looking me over, but I stared right back.

 _He's an immortal if vampire myth is to be believed, he can wait. All he's got is time._

I finished eating after the longest twenty minutes of my life. Another servant appeared and took the plate away. His thoughts were projecting into my mind, bouncing around and echoing. He was loud.

 _I've never prepared anything for Godric. He's never had human company for as long as he's been king. This is totally unprecedented. I'll have to tell Russell all about this. He's been looking for a way in for a long time. This is amazingly good news for me… I'll be amply rewarded. Maybe even turned._

I tried to forget that I heard that. It wasn't my business, but I'd tell Godric if he asked. Maybe if he didn't.

"Besides my reading minds, I am completely normal. I have a brother and my Gran, neither of whom can do mind reading. My parents died in flash flood. My aunt passed away from cancer and her daughter ran off and has likely overdosed by now." My words were cutting and devoid of emotion. I would give him nothing of myself but the barest facts. My heart and the feelings I had for my friends and family were my own.

"Prove you are reading minds. Tell me what that servant was thinking."

"Well is he around? Like, in ear shot? Because I don't think he's loyal to you or anything." I whispered. Godric tilted his head and listened.

"No, he is not, but I will exercise caution. We will retire to my chambers."

I felt dizzy, my head propped up in his hands, the hallway passing me by faster than a roller coaster. I'd barely realized I'd left the chair before I was in a bedroom every bit as luxurious as Eric's. The bed was smaller, and the room was plainer, but still nice.

He had set me on the mattress and I clutched my head, feeling muzzy.

"I am sorry. I rarely interact with humans these days. I forget you cannot function as well afterward when we move at vampire speed."

I laid back on the bed, trying to stop the spinning. I felt Godric crawl over me, his knees on either side of my body as he looked down on me.

"You are all right? Do you need a doctor? I can send for someone." His concern was so odd, and when I looked at his face that was still wavering in the air from my eye's being so shaky, I could still see that his lips were in a fine line of worry, and his eyes sparkling more than they had when I lay next to him.

"I'm ok. Just feeling like the room is spinning. I'll sit up now." I started propping myself up, but he didn't move from his position, so I stayed on my forearms with my torso at a 35 degree angle from the bed.

He sniffed then, and moved his head closer to my chest to breathe in more. So. Weird.

"I want you." His eyes caught mine and his fangs were pressing against the inside of his lips.

"You can't have me!" I brought my face closer, aggressively, though I was actually terrified.

"All the humans I know would go through fire to be with me. I am the king, and I have everything that I so desire."

"Well, you better sit and stew because I won't willingly be with you… and if you try… if you try to…" I couldn't say rape. "I'll fight you. I don't care how strong you are, I won't go down without a fight." I wanted him to feel how much I meant those words. I'd do my best to kick his ass.

"I would never. I enjoy a challenge Ms. Stackhouse. I would never take you unwilling, so I will court you."

"Did you not even hear me? My answer is 'no'." I was incredulous.

"I have time to wait for you to say yes." He practically purred at me.

"You'll wait forever then. Now get off of me."

The door to Godric's room opened and Eric Northman walked through as he was speaking.

"Min far, vad…"

"Lämna , hon är min." [ _leave, she is mine_ ] Godric moved to stand in front of Eric as I finally sat up, Godric's body off of mine.

 _I should thank Eric for the interruption._

"Varför har du inte gjort detta , inte i hundra år och mer." [Y _ou have not done this in a hundred years, more_ ] Eric sounded almost pleading.

"Hon intresserar mig. Jag vill ha henne. Jag förstår inte vad som är inne mig som gör, men jag bryr mig inte. De känslor hon ger upphov till är som inget annat. Hon fruktar inte mig." [ _She interests me. I want her . I do not understand what is inside me that makes it so, but I do not care. The feelings she generates are like nothing else. She does not fear me.]_ Godric's voice was becoming more passionate as he spoke.

"Du kommer inte att dela?" [ _You will not share?]_ Eric whispered quietly, his posture submissive.

"Inte som du är nu . Hon är inte som andra människor . Hon kommer inte att tillgodose du gillar din Yvetta. Hon är att vara värdefull." [ _Not as you are now. She is not like other humans. She will not satisfy you like your Yvetta with her desire to be mistreated. She is to be treasured.]_ Eric hissed at the end of Godric's words and looked at me threateningly. I didn't care at all about his surly attitude. He seemed like an asshole 100% of the time.

"Hey, if you guys are going to talk all night, I can just go back to that tiny closet you call a room." I think they were speaking in swedish, but it could have been some other scandinavian language for all I knew. But seriously, I didn't need to be talked about like I wasn't in the room. And even if they weren't mentioning me, I didn't need to be involved in whatever vampire crap was going on. Hiding in my room was preferable to this mess with Godric wanting in my pants and Eric looking at me like he always had.

 _I bet I've died a hundred thousand times in that guy's mind._

"Lämna. Nu." [ _Leave. Now_.] Eric whipped out the door and slammed it behind him. Godric turned to me, evaluating.

"We have all night, mo ghràdh. Tell me what you heard from the servant?"

"Please stop with the different languages! What does that even mean?"

"My darling." He smiled and walked over to me.

"I am not your darling, you _vampire_!"

"For now. Tell me?"

"Fine. He said you've never done anything like this with a human and he wants to tell someone named Russell all about it. Something about him being rewarded and… turned?" His face turned hard and he pulled out a phone, texting faster than a high schooler could ever hope to.

"Thank you, Sookie. I did not believe you at first, but you must know your talent is invaluable."

"Disability." I mumbled.

"Talent. Skill. Gift." He affirmed.

"You don't even know what it's like hearing everything in people's heads. Their worst thoughts, their fears, their hatreds are all laid out in front of me. And if there's too many people, like here, I can't keep my shields up to not hear them all."

"Surely, not all humans are that way." His look was sorry and unhappy, and I believed in that second that he might care, before that thought drifted away and I returned to feeling trapped and irate. I continued anyway, having not much to lose.

"Not all, but when I was a kid, I made mistakes. I couldn't stop blurting out what they were thinking because I couldn't tell the difference between what was said aloud and what wasn't. People get frightened of you, easily, when you do that. They can ask me if their husband is cheating and the next second treat me like I don't exist because they don't want to know that I might know their darkest secrets." I had always tried to be kind to others, even if I was stubborn. But that had never mattered to the people of Bon Temp. Besides family and my life-long friend Tara, only Sam didn't treat me like I was the plague in human form. He had hired me as a waitress when no one else would.

"They are wrong. And cruel. I will not be so hurtful to you, ever. Mo ghràdh, what interests you? What can I give you besides your freedom that will make you happy?" I felt so miserable then. Missing my books. I'd been in the middle of War and Peace, and I didn't think I'd ever read the ending. I missed my bed, my cozy pajamas, my sundresses, besides the people in my life. I decided to tell him about the material things. Couldn't hurt.

"Um. I had these pajamas, they were nice and warm, and a large t-shirt. I like… dresses like the one I'm wearing. And I like to read. I never went to college because of the… hearing thoughts."

"I will bring you the clothing. What books would you need?" Godric was so earnest in his wanting to please me. I could hear his desire as he spoke.

"I was reading through Leo Tolstoy's work, and I'm in the middle of War and Peace."

"These things will be delivered here. You will stay with me and you will want for nothing." He strode over to me where I was still sitting on the edge of the bed and caressed my cheek and then tilting my head up to meet his gaze.

"Godric." his name on my tongue felt peaceful. Like a prayer to god himself.

"Mo solas." He let go of my face and kneeled in front of me, his words reverent.

"I am not going to be a kept woman. Even if you provide all this stuff to everyone, I should earn my keep." This was non-negotiable. Gran would tsk tsk me if I took handouts when I didn't need them.

"Very well. Consent to reading all of the thoughts of the humans here?"

"You really want me to do that? I mean, no one has ever asked me to read minds before." Did he really want me to go into people's heads?

"Yes. That servant was a spy, and there must be other spies." Oh. That makes sense now. I'd never lived in a world like this. I guess since he was a vampire king there might be people who didn't want him to be one.

"I'll do it if you don't kill them. Just do that thing where you wipe their memories and send them away. Please?" I couldn't bear to have their blood on my hands.

"If that is what you desire, I will give it to you. I will pay you to do this, and keep the money in an account."

"Why? I'll never be leaving here." I snapped.

"Someday, you might." He placed his hands on my legs, one for each side. His grip was firm and unmoving. Having his head lower than mine made me feel a little less on edge. It gave me room to get mad.

"Don't offer me false hope!" What an asshole. How dare he tell me that I can't leave and then tempt me with leaving?

"We can discuss this later. In the meantime, I must attend to business. Someone will be by shortly with the materials you asked for."

"Well wait now. I'm staying here, but are you staying with me?" I squeaked at the end of my sentence. He stood up and threw a winsome smile at me.

"Not yet. But someday, if you allow me."

"Not on your undead life Godric." I tried to be serious, but I let a little smirk show itself. Again he reached out to touch my face, moving his fingers over my lips. God damnit, why did I have to be someone who had never been with a guy before? His glancing movements across my skin gave me involuntary shivers of excitement.

He left, and I was alone in his room.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for all the great reviews. They're totally inspiring. The reason this chapter was put out so early is that I had finished polishing 2 chapters and am ahead of schedule. All due to reviews, haha. I swear they are writing juice.

Thanks Suzy Meinen for beta'ing!

***Eric***

Rage. Absolute fucking rage. My fangs would not go back up, my fury was so profound.

"Yvetta!" I had reached the pet room where claimed humans waited for their vampires to take them for feeding and sex. Her head turned and she didn't look excited, but instead smugly stood up, leaving the gaggle of women around her and started walking towards me. Fucking fuck. So much for getting rid of her this second. There needed to be one last fuck with her to work out the stress of this evening.

Alcide had told me earlier of her verbal assault on the blonde of _all_ people. It wasn't a surprise, given that all of the donors knew that the sweet-smelling human had been in my room the night before. Since I was dumping her after this, that would be punishment enough for her actions.

I grabbed her and took her bodily to my room, not bothering to care about the bruises on her arms that would show up soon. Throwing her on the bed, I vamped on top of her and tore her clothes to shreds, leaving scratches on her back as she lay on her belly. She moaned, absorbed in the pain I was inflicting.

That was what had entertained me, drawn me in. Her submission called to my beast, telling me to take and destroy. To desecrate her, because it was what she wanted and the vampire in me wanted it too.

I slammed into her, knowing she would be ready. She screamed in pleasure with a paroxysm of hurt and I grabbed her hair into a single thick mass, using it like reigns on a horse. I pulled her back towards me tight enough to close her throat, so all I could hear were little gasps and chokes. We had done this before, and she had always enjoyed the control and rough treatment.

Her ass was bouncing back on my hips while I pummeled her. I looked down and I wanted to split her in half with my cock. I slapped her hard on her barely-cushioned ass and grabbed the side of her hip to speed up the fucking. It wasn't fast enough for me and I wasn't as deep as I wanted. I let go of her hair and pushed her face and shoulders down on the bed roughly. Her legs were spread wide but I shoved them together to tighten her.

I wasn't getting off. It didn't matter that I was hard as a rock and everything about Yvetta was as it had always been. In my mind, I was seeing Godric and the human. Seeing him defend her, treat her possessively like he had treated me. Yes, I was jealous. And confused. He wanted her, like I wanted him. This was not the way it was supposed to be! I am his child.

Yvetta sounded like a dying animal with her face pressed into the bed. Fucking annoying. I flipped her over to her side, shoved the leg that lay on the bed in between my legs and drew the other all the way up to rest on my shoulder. The angle was more open and I watched Yvetta make eye contact with me and play with her breasts.

It disgusted me. I had told her time and again to not meet my eyes. That intimacy was reserved for Godric and Pam, though neither Pam nor I were interested in bedding the other.

I shut my eyes then and tried to fantasize about Godric. Instead I was imagining the blonde girl in between us and my attending to her as I would attend my master, a warped image born of the reality that Godric was _slipping_ away from me. He had been for some time and it was only seeing him interested in something that reminded me I _wasn't_ enough. Yes it was a demented fantasy to think of fucking her too; I should be where she was, where I had been, with Godric, and somehow it was twisted. She was now the barrier and also the potential enabler of my connection with Godric. I _hated_ her. I _hated_ the idea that Godric saw something in her. How could he when with smart fucking mouth telling us to cease speaking in Old Norse? There was 1,000 years of shared life between the two of us and she dared to tell us to speak to her in her language? As if she was an equal. Fuck. I loathe her. The repugnance I held for this woman, she even refused to show proper fear of us, made me want to personally ensure that she did in fact find her fear, and quickly.

I could want, desire, need to end her all I liked, but she was still a fortification around Godric and if I attacked her, I would lose Godric, but if she stayed, I might lose him anyway. If the only way to him was through her, something in me would have to give.

And to my shame, these thoughts of myself, her and Godric playing out a reverie where he loved me again, even if it was through a human, brought me over the edge. I roared and pulled Yvetta off me, shoving her away.

"Master, that was-"

"Shut the fuck up and leave." I shoved a robe in her hands. Normally she stayed here, even though she had her own room. What the hell was wrong with me? These thoughts, even thinking them in front of another mortified me.

I did not want Yvetta here ever again, her very presence exacerbating the filth of my already sullied thoughts.

I calculated my position. Yvetta was considered the best looking human by all the other vampires. She had been a prize to be won, her desire for brutal sex was her greatest asset, that many a vampire coveted. Having to constantly glamor a human into being content after a vampire was harsh with their body wore their minds out. Giving her up was required now, but it was a shame. Especially when I had need of a consistent donor.

If I could nurture a positive relationship with the fairy, perhaps I could make my vision unfold into reality. I would have to study Godric's behavior carefully and imitate it to the best of my ability. When and if he trusted me with her alone, I could seduce her. The blonde was my type physically, unlike Yvetta, so sexual attraction was not an issue. The crux of it would be being unable to use glamor. But I could slide my way into her affections, find my way to Godric and then supplant her. Perhaps this could be considered tricking my maker, but I was sure I would be saving him from his own weakness. He would do the same for me should I fall prey to a lapse in judgement.

"I can feed you-" I had completely forgotten she was there, and she must have been watching me think.

"Did you not hear a fucking word I said? Get out. Do not come back." Yvetta crept out of the room, closing the door behind her and I smelled the tears forming in her eyes as she left.

The scent of our sex repulsed me.

Yvetta would find herself in the bed of another; it wouldn't take long.

Godric would be working by now and I debated going to his office to speak with him. This felt like hell, being second to another. For now, anyway.

***Godric***

Each day passed like every other had. I would rise a microsecond earlier each day, which I tracked with the patience of an immortal.

Tonight I lay with my child, my eyes unblinking in the darkness. He would rise in an hour, leaving me this time to think.

My mind had been fossilizing, leaving Eric to batter at the walls that were erected by me without any conscious direction on my part. He was the core of my heart, the only thing besides myself that I cared for. And as my attachment to living drifted away, so too did my understanding of what the sum of our relationship meant. Did it matter? Was what we felt substantial in the face of the lives we took? Were we meant to be here?

I felt the twinge of hunger as an outside influence from who I was. To feed my corporeal form was a task when my spirit was a guttering flame. Still, it wanted the kill. Blood was not enough. I had cut off the head of the hydra to no avail and the vampire in me continued to fracture and spread out, looking for something, anything to have for itself as it starved.

Eric had offered me a circumstance that my beast could not refuse. A human who could not be glamored must certainly die, I had rationalized. All the while I felt the vampire laugh and laugh, howling at its impending victory of matter over mind.

But… I had walked into the room, and it was over. I couldn't do it. Not now, not then, not ever. As the calm appraisement that had been engendered by 2,000 years of experience evaluated the creature in front of me, even the vampire in me stood at attention, silently waiting and not frothing at the mouth, stunned into silence.

We vampires don't often see hybrid fairies of this quality every day. The twitch in my loins embarrassed me. This hadn't happened in so long and it had last been with Eric. Only Eric for many centuries.

I tried ignoring the scent. Just look, and not touch. It was ineffective. I had to know. More than what I already knew. More than was necessary.

Making my way to the bed, I noted that she was bruised from having fought. Even before glamoring, the humans did not usually fight. The third brother of fight or flight was freeze, and it took humans more often than the first two. But she had run to escape, and she had fought.

Her hair was a tangle, and the dress she wore was ruined, but underneath the dirt and markings, she was captivating. The scent of fairy was stronger on her than any other hybrid I'd met, but underneath it lurked a more fiery blood. Demon.

Eric watched me from the door, and I could feel him push against the bond with a panoply of emotions. He wanted to know why I hadn't woken her up and shared her with him. Why I was being so quiet as to not wake her. Why did I not end it, then. And why did I _care._ I knew then, if she lived, she would come between us.

I sighed, and lay down next to her, evaluating the tan skin, and pink lips. She spent a lot of time in the sun and it was on her skin mingling with the scent of fairy. I carefully teased out the demon blood from her fairy scent. She wasn't related to them; the blood was not written on her being. It lived inside her, housed by the magic all supernaturals carried. It was a gift then, a powerful and meaningful one.

It didn't take a vampire my age to see she was special. But it did take someone my age to have the patience to find out what it was that made her so before making a meal of her. She could not be allowed in the donor pool. Most did not remember what fairies smelled like. Hybrids were so few and far between they were usually only recognized as sweet tasting would tear her apart in a day.

A hybrid like this would normally have connections with the fae. They were not fond of parting with their people, even half breeds. I'd heard they had been taking the majority back to their realm. So why was she still here?

I told myself that all I wanted to know was why someone had gone out of their way to hide the hybrid in plain sight. Why they had given her a dose of demon blood from the line of Dantalion, the Secret Counselor. It was unclear what the blood would have offered her in the way of a gift, but it would not be insignificant. She was only 1/8th or less, so why did she smell as strongly of fairy as she did?

When her eyes opened I was riveted in place. It was a color I remembered from being human; sky blue. Craving roared through my body, but not before I locked away my bond from Eric. I was ashamed that myself and my beast had formed an agreement over her. A tentative alliance, because she was alluring and because _we_ wanted her.

She reached out and touched my lips, her eyes wide with curiosity and interest. Those fingers were marching themselves into the lion's den and I restrained myself against all instinct from kissing and sucking on their length. When she pulled away, realization on her face that she had tempted the vampire, I longed to be in contact with her again. My hand reached and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

I couldn't help it. I gripped her, pushing her chin up to expose her neck. When I was human and even a few hundred years after being a vampire, humans could be erotic and inspire carnal wants. Those feelings were as close as I could come to describing what ran through me now. Now, everything was threaded with an ambrosial sensuality, an ineffable seed of heaven. Even the vampire in me could not ruin this purity of emotion, but was left to tag along in the aftermath.

I let her go, and it was difficult to turn away from the bed and walk towards Eric. We left after speaking quickly about leaving her be until tomorrow. Being in her presence tore at me, my feelings agonized at the assault.

Now that I wasn't near her, I could think. She had settled into _my_ mind, broke _my_ walls. Tempted _me._ Her very existence jeopardized my iron grip on my throne. She had the potential to be a weakness, if I allowed it. She might already be. Maybe I didn't care. Maybe I would relish killing everything that threatened her.

Eric walked behind me as I texted my day servant what I required of him. I told Eric about the blood, and what she was. It was true that she was likely a political pawn, and I told Eric I would reach out to my contacts and see who she was to the fae. But truly, I had not decided on whether I would do that or not. I could keep her to myself, make her mine.

Lastly I reminded him of the third thing I had scented. She had never been with a man. It made me furious at myself, feeling my own longing to find a way to be her first. I felt evil, cruel for wanting that from her. Yet I couldn't make my desires go away.

Eric asked me why I had saved her, and I kissed him. She was on my mouth, and the taste of her lingered. Eric might not understand my fascination, but he did understand the language of blood. She tasted heavenly, even if it was just the oils of her skin.

I had coiled around him, wishing she were between us. Even if my child behaved however, I knew that if I wanted the fairy I would have to be faithful to her alone, as humans normally were. This would be easy for me, and difficult for Eric to understand. So I told a lie and said that there might be a future where he and I made love again, even if there likely wasn't as long as the fairy lived. And even if she didn't.

After sundown I had waited patiently in the court for the donors to be brought in and the new ones presented. She would be there, and I would lead her away. I had spent the hours before court reviewing how her day had gone. She had made friends, and enemies. It was no matter. No one would be fool enough to touch her after I made my claim.

The scramble for her happened quickly, Waldo spotting her and attempting to move her away from the pack. Eric instinctively went for Waldo, dragging him off the girl and into our dungeons for his presumptuous behavior.

When Eric returned, I whispered to him that he could put Waldo in a coffin next to his maker without bothering to drain him. The silver would be enough. I didn't have the patience to be creative, or the care to ask Eric to be creative.

The presentation started quickly, with more than a few of my constituents admiring the hybrid. I wanted to rip more than a few heads off. Compton. Madden. Andre. They all stared at her with open need.

The court went silent when I took her. When she came to the front her eyes were to the floor. I bared my fangs in a general gesture of dominance to the others and caught her as she stumbled. When her face lifted, my fangs were safely deposited back into my gums.

Eric's fury lapped at our bond and I smirked when she stuck her pink tongue out at him. I shouldn't find it so amusing that there was already unspoken competition between the two. I would have to watch Eric carefully and likely command him in some way regarding her.

Now fully removed from the influence of a crowd, I knew she would argue with me every step of the way. She'd tried to escape, stood against Eric, confronted the Were named Debbie, held her own against Yvetta and otherwise garnered the support of the Were guard Alcide. Yes, she would be a challenge. There had never been any fight within the other humans, who could all be glamored out of their behavior.

As our night progressed the hybrid named Sookie attacked my dominance over my own feelings, pushing my restraint to the edge of sanity.

She begged, and when that didn't work, she ran. I caught her and put her back, enjoying every bit of her body on mine.

Then she raged at me while I teased her, pushed and prodded her into being incensed. My questions were meaningless, meant for her to simply open her mouth so I could listen to her and imagine her lips on mine. I did not care who her family was at this moment. I admitted to her my dark nature without hiding it, giving her the honesty she asked for though we were bound by vampire law to not tell our secrets. She told me she could read minds and I knew I should have cared about this too, but I did not. I barely noted that this was the result of the demon line of Dantalion in her body.

When she indicated that she had read the mind of my servant, I used it as an excuse to take her to my room. She was on the bed, clutching her head in her hand. I'd gone too fast taking her here. Watching her in her weakness, I put my body above hers and let my resolve to keep her out of my heart crumble into nothing.

"I want you." _I want to fuck you. Eat you, lick and suck you. I want you to come for me. Only me. I want you to scream my name when I'm inside you. I want every portion of you I can claim. I want you every night, every way…_

Fuck. I told her she presented a problem. This was the problem; how she was effecting me.

Eric walked in at that moment. It was the wrong one. We spoke and he talked of sharing her bodily, not just in blood. As the humans say, I saw red. No. Not him. Not him and his endless string of used women that he discarded like so many corpses. Even if she did not choose me, I would never let my child have her if he intended to use her so. I loved him, and that had gone a long way towards ignoring his habits with the humans. With Sookie's life on the line, I knew that I had gone far in changing my opinion of the purpose humans and that Eric had not. With the revelation coming, we all must change. We must begin to see them as equals, not food or enemies.

Sookie could be my catalyst. But she couldn't be both of ours if he was to continue on as he was. I commanded him to leave, wounding him greatly, then turned back to the fairy.

"We have all night, mo ghràdh. Tell me what you heard from the servant?" I called her my darling in Gaelic.

It occurred to me that a telepath would be desired by all monarchs. I had not heard of one before myself. She would never leave this state or this building if I could help it, regardless of her skill. Her ability only made me want to protect her more.

She had struck gold with the servant, finding out that he was a spy for the king of Mississippi. This was irrelevant to me in the moment. Spies were a given.

She did not want to be kept, like a donor might, or a pet. I readily agreed to let her read my donors if that was what made her happy. The money I would pay her would be set aside in an account for her. If she was so worried about being a burden, she would also expect a full accounting of where the money came from. It would be up to Eric and myself to keep meticulous records.

Making her as happy as I could was now my priority. When she told me of her childhood I wanted to destroy all those who had hurt her. They didn't deserve to speak her name.

I switched tactics, if only to stop myself from leaving to kill whoever had done harm to my hybrid. Her interests were pleasing. Classic literature, a desire for knowledge. She wanted comfortable clothing and of course, to leave. I almost told her about the revelation, stopping myself. If I said anything, she would count down the days until that time, hoping for release. I wanted her affection before then. I needed her to stay.

My words came out like Eric's; leering and arrogant. Well, he was the only one of us who now spoke like I had when I was boy death. Together we had found our way into the beds of princes and princesses, kings and queens, nuns and men of the cloth. I channeled my old self to keep my desperation at bay and to belie the fact that I was swiftly engineering my own downfall at the hands of this woman.

As much as I wanted to be on my knees forever, there was work to be done, and I had to leave her intoxicating presence in order to complete it. When I touched her lips with my fingers, arousal came off of her in a wave. I could have roared my triumph, but I instead left with my discipline intact.

***Eric***

Godric had unmuted the bond and I could feel he was in his office. His emotions were not inviting, but not discouraging either. He knew I would come to him, and if I had a stomach it would have wrenched with the feeling of being unwanted but being unable to respect myself enough to walk away.

I stood in front of his office door, not needing to knock, but waiting for him to acknowledge my presence.

 _I am here, I am yours. Look at me. Look at me like you used to._

The bond flickered at me, signaling that I could enter. He was at his desk, writing out paperwork at vampire speed. I had tried transitioning him to a computer, but he insisted that he was as fast this way and that it was prudent to not leave a trail of documents online that could be stolen more easily than actual paper. I saw his point, but only other vampires would attempt to steal that information and they were as disadvantaged on knowing new technology as we were. New vampires were only made with input from the council and the monarchs. Strict quotas were enforced and it was death to both maker and new child if you stepped out of line. Hence, even though the human world had changed much in the past 200 years, we had not, given the very low influx of the newly undead.

"I apologize for having asked to partake in your human." I began with a peace offering.

"No apology needed my child, only do not ask me again." So far so good.

"Of course. You have reached out to your contacts regarding her?" One last effort to get rid of her.

"No. I will not. I intend to keep her as mine." Ok, then I would be setting my plan into action. Engage the human, earn her trust and assure Godric that I am moving closer to mainstreaming and being worthy of him again.

"May we discuss the consequences this will have for your reputation?" I must protect him though. This new development will not go over well with the other monarchs. They had pets galore, but this was entirely different for boy death to take a single human to his side. It was a meaningful gesture.

"No, we may not." Unsurprising.

Silence gripped the room, punctuated only by the sound of Godric's writing. He hadn't looked me in the eye once.

"Why?"

He stopped. And then his eyes narrowed as they met mine.

"I will not insult you and say you do not understand, because I think you do have a grasp on what is beginning to happen with Sookie and I. I will say though, that your understanding of it is like hearing a thing instead of listening to it." He said.

"I am not one for being cryptic, as you know master." My bluntness was a contrast I thought he loved. His words cut me, being so distant and calmly insinuating that we were apart. Separate creatures, now.

"On the contrary, I feel that was quite explanatory." He went back to writing. Yes, they cut deeply. Fuck.

"If I were a being capable of love master, I would say I love you." He was the one who had taught me that we had no emotions. We did not love, we raged for possession of sex and blood. We did not feel, we were wrath itself. This was as close as I could get, given all that he had taught me. The lessons he was now forsaking.

"There is a version of you that is capable of love, but he is not who stands before me today. As your maker I command you to not harm Sookie Stackhouse in any way. You will defend her with your life and reinforce my claim on her. There will be no cruel words spoken to her by you, and you will be kind. You are forbidden to speak of my past indiscretions to her. I will be declaring her mine the next time we hold court."

This was devastating. I sped over to kneel beside him. He knew me, he knew my very blood because it was his. But never had he so succinctly gone up against my nature, my personhood, and told me that he _knew._ He _knew_ what I was and then corralled me into not showing that side of myself because he so wished it. There had always been the respect he offered to let me learn from my mistakes. It was not present in this moment.

"I have cared for you only, above all. Just you. What I feel for you transcends the flesh of others. I don't crave your body master. It is your consideration, your respect. You have always been the sun to me after you asked me to be your companion in death and darkness. I have not missed the day because you are here. Why are you doing this? What have I done?" It was only if he released me that this could be worse. Tears were leaking out, only noticeable to me when I felt them on my cheeks, my eyes were so wide as to not detect their beginnings.

He evaluated me, and I saw a flicker of emotion pass his face before it was gone again. The bond of course, was silent. I never noticed as much as I did now how excellent his control was over it. It made me realize he had been hiding from me far longer than I had ever realized.

"Like this, like you are now, I feel something. You must know that you have kept me alive when I would have met the sun long ago. But, as the humans say regarding grave injuries, you have been my life-support Eric. An artificial organ. But I am no longer living as I once was. And her, I can't explain to you why the door was open for her. It is now, and I wish for her to walk inside of me, unhindered by my own inadequacy to desire life for my own sake. Don't punish her for my failings as a vampire and maker. Don't punish yourself for not being the one to save me. Don't hate her because she might be able to. Be grateful I will live to see another century."

It was the most honest confession he had made in so very long. The longest set of sentences uttered from him I'd heard. Even with other monarchs, it was all contractual, written out and not said. All vampires blabbered while Godric spoke quietly and deadly like a silver knife. A word here, an utterance there. This was as close to bearing his undead heart to me as he could come. And it wasn't due to _me._ It was all for _her._

The tangible hold on my hatred for her loosened and I grasped at it as it wriggled further away. How could I resent so strongly the person who had just inspired my maker to speak in this way to me? I wanted to, desperately I wanted to blame her, to heap all of the skewed and broken elements of my relationship with my maker on top of her existence.

"Do not force me to watch as you take another into a place where I once occupied. If you care for me, don't show me." I looked away, my mind finding its way towards downtime, semi-consciously looking to avoid the hurt I was experiencing.

"You will not see the most intimate parts unless you look for them, my child, but you will see us. It will be impossible not to. If it is any consolation, it is ultimately her choice to be with me or not. She may say no. But if she says yes… Do not seek me out when we are together or you will find yourself spurned."

"Somewhere along the line you must have forgotten about your ability to seduce and to wring out the last bit of pleasure from anyone who is lucky enough to grace your bed." I muttered, making no mention of his threat to keep me away from his relationship. Whereas, I was obvious in my sexual interests and easily capable of eroding any barriers to entry, Godric slipped inside the most complex walls of protection that humans and vampires could generate to protect their feelings or what remained of them. He was the quiet and consuming lover, his partners left dazed by his entrance and exit. Godric did not break others open with the strength of his attentions; he bent them. We had always been opposites with our contrasting ways of sexual conquest. And in that way, we had always matched.

"I intend to curb my manipulative tendencies with her. I may not succeed entirely, but I will warn her of my abilities of persuasion."

"You are generous."

"I am forthcoming. I hope you come to learn the difference. Particularly before we reveal ourselves to the world."

"Yes master. I will leave you to your work and go to contemplate your words."

"Thank you. Also, please collect a kitchen servant named Edward, and imprison him. No torture." Without any other motions to comfort or dismiss me, he turned back to his work.

I left feeling as empty as the drained corpse of a human.

***Sookie***

It was late, almost 2am.

I had been thinking of Godric, against my better judgement. No one had ever said they wanted me. Sam had a crush on me, I could tell. But after hearing the dozens of thoughts over the years that I was hot, but too crazy to touch, Sam's hesitance left a bad taste in my mouth.

Bullies bullied to hurt, and they had turned my emotions into a semi-active volcano. My words could be cutting, with humor as my shield against the worst of the verbal and mental assaults. I could explode at seemingly random times, which was my way of telling myself I had control over whether others liked me or wanted to be friends with me. Even though I had barely any friends because I was considered crazy, at least I felt better thinking I had a say by sharpening my tongue on those who deserved it. To everyone else who generally had kind thoughts, I acted the sweetheart. A contradiction that even they found offputting.

Godric had reached out several times to squeeze me with his words, watching me erupt with what must have been excitement on his part. It had been a strange game, and now that I was resigning myself in some way to my new life I could contemplate our night with interest.

I didn't want to believe that I'd given up on home. I tried holding onto the threads of my life outside. But every hour that ticked away was one where the people in my life were starting to believe I was dead and gone.

So my thoughts circled around the vampire. His smirks and his poking and prodding. His measured honesty that morphed into genuine concern by the end of the evening. But even if someone had told me he wanted me before he was looking down on me saying he did, I wouldn't have believed them.

But it was there. It had happened. He said he _wanted_ me. And again my mind moved back to the same thought: no one besides him had said they wanted me.

Did I want to be wanted? I was too tired to think on it and I curled up on his bed, shutting my eyes and waiting for sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks Suzy for the beta!

Thanks for the kind reviews. I have tried to differentiate my version of Godric from others that I have read. Eric too, in his own way, though he's been written so many times it's hard to come up with something very unique. Don't worry about the division between Godric and Eric, as well as Sookie and Eric. There will be HEA in this.

My Sookie may come off as less "unreasonable". Let me know if I'm straying too far from the path.

***Sookie***

My sleep was amazingly sound. Godric's bed, much like Eric's, was perfectly firm with a little bit of softness on top. The blankets were snuggly and warm too. I was awake before I heard the knocking on the door, my eyes having adjusted to the bright sun.

I sat up and looked around quickly before making my way over to the knocking. There was a set of comfy pajamas lying on a chair nearby along with a copy of War and Peace. A simple sundress with some underthings was laid out at the foot of the bed, which my feet couldn't reach to disturb said garments. I felt a pang of guilt that I was comforted by his gesture. I was _supposed_ to be a prisoner and hate my captor, but as I lay awake in bed this morning, my mind had been trying to look at it from Godric's perspective.

I wished to god that I could be glamored, but things were as they were. They had to protect themselves too. Lot's of people were bigots about race and I could only imagine how they'd react to vampires being a real thing. So far, Godric had been nice. He said he was just as bad as the other vampires, but he hadn't been to me. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, even if he didn't give it to himself, was the least I could do. This was true even if he recanted his desire for me.

Another round of knocking.

"Just a second!" I almost tripped getting the underwear on. There were flip flops at the end of the bed. Perfect.

I opened the door and it was Debbie again. I tried to hide my disappointment. I'd come to realize that as petty as these women could be, this was their life and it was all it would ever be now. Competing for vampire affections in order to stay cared for and safe. Protection was a scarce resources here, I could tell. Debbie may be a bitch, but maybe she was made that way by constant exposure to vampires. After all, I had no idea what life had thrown at the woman.

"Come with me." She said curtly. We walked for a long time, the hallways blending into each other in such a way that I doubted I could find my way back. We wound up at what I believed was my small walk-in closet sized room. No words were exchanged as she opened the door for me.

I walked in and sighed.

The door didn't shut and I turned around to look at Debbie. She was holding a knife.

Everything moved quickly; she lunged at me and I fell back into the wall. Her left hand was fisted and I saw it come towards the side of my head. It was moving in slow motion, and I felt my mind flutter and go black.

"Sookie? Are you in here?" Dawn.

Here? Everything was so sluggish and dim. My eyes moved down my body. Had I gone to shower? There were red puddles, near my wrists. They were sliced across and I noted that they were seeping blood. It was the wrong direction for suicide, was all I could think.

"Sookie, oh, oh my god. What the fuck! Sookie no!" I lolled my head to the left and up to look at her. Seeing her shock, I remembered.

"Debbie."One word. I passed out again.

"Hold on, just hold tight, Sookie. Hang on, please, stay with us. Can you see me?"

The tapping of someone's fingers on my face caused my eyes to open. There was stinging pressure on my wrists and I was strapped to something. We were moving fast, the ceiling passing too quickly for my vision to catch up. I vomited, tilting my head away from the hand to the other side.

"That'a girl, you do what you need, but stay awake. Stay here." Alcide? We stopped abruptly and then started moving again, slowly.

"Out of the way!" a rough female voice barked. I felt and heard the sounds of others stepping away. My view of the ceiling was then covered up by a pinched and wrinkled face. I saw the strange person pull up a finger and lick the red off of it, her tongue snaking out, narrow and inhuman.

"Leave, all of you!" Their footsteps faded.

"Girl, you are not entirely human. Today you are lucky, I have the blood you need. As a doctor I will not be informing your vampire masters of your species."

"I'm human." I mumbled, feeling light headed.

"The hell you are." I felt a needle go into the crook of my arm, stinging for a moment before I felt something pull out of it.

"Now, care to tell me why you tried to off yourself? Not that you wouldn't have a reason, living here."

"I didn't."

"Cuts say otherwise."

"She hit my head." Speaking was becoming hard. The edges of my vision were darker and I lost my motivation for saying anything more.

I felt her fingers press on the sides of my skull. I winced when she reached the spot that Debbie had smashed with her fist.

"Don't move. You are concussed at best." Her hand was warm and flat on my forehead. Something moved inside my head. I could _feel_ it like two gears rotating slightly.

"You were bleeding slightly inside your brain. It is stopped now and the swelling is down. You will stay here, I'll be getting you a guard." I heard her walk away and open a door.

"Were! Get in here, now!"

"She's gonna be ok?"

"High estimate of her having no further complications. Shut the door, and we will speak privately."

Their voices were clearer now, and I felt less clouded and sick as I listened. Fluids pumped into my arm, cold and thick.

"You will stay under the guise of protecting her from committing suicide again. But, she is here because someone attacked her and attempted to make it look like she would kill herself. I will deal with the king. You will stay and let no one near her. We cannot be sure who is responsible."

"Debbie." I croaked.

"Dawn knows." I continued.

"Don't Were. You let them do it. Say goodbye later." The doctor's mind was buzzing strangely as I lowered my shields, which had built themselves back up after the doctor's touch. I had heard Dawn think about me, but I was so far gone I didn't register it. Alcide was harder to read at the time, but now I could catch snippets.

 _Grew up together… Not like this… first love. How could she… Loved her…_

I listened no more to his thoughts. Whatever would happen, would happen.

"No visitors Were. I will be near and will check back to change the fluids. She can sleep if she likes. Text if anything changes."

"She'll need more blood than that. She's almost lost a fifth-"

"I have no more of her type on hand. She is healed, but she may not have enough blood to be up and running this week."

"You can get more-."

"No." she snapped, "don't question me. Do as I say."

"Yes Dr. Ludwig." Alcide was chastised. The footsteps of the doctor faded and the door was shut carefully by what must be Alcide.

"Darlin'. I'm so sorry." His face was close to mine.

"Let me get you cleaned up." I said nothing as I heard him shuffle around the room, running water and going through cabinets. Buckles unclasped themselves from my body. My wrists were bound up tightly. I hadn't noticed that the bandages must have been changed.

"Okay, now let's sit you up. Careful, careful now." He was strong, lifting my torso up all by his lonesome.

"Can you sit, or slouch forward?" I nodded in assent and let my chin fall to my chest, shoulders rounded. Sounds of sheets moving were behind me and the quick pat down of a new blanket told me I'd get to lean back again soon. Alcide lowered me down and I noted that there was no smell of vomit. I hadn't noticed it was there until it was gone.

"Here, you've got some in your hair." He lifted my head carefully and started taking a washcloth to it, reminding me of when my parents were alive and they carefully bathed my hair in the tub, hand to my forehead sealing it from the water going into my eyes. It was blissful.

Another warm cloth came to wipe my face and slowly moved down to my chest. My shirt covered most of my front and his hands started pushing the cloth underneath the fabric.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm going to change you, take you out of these clothes. I can't make it so it didn't happen, but I can help you with this. Take some of it away."

"No." I muttered.

"They'll be stiff soon, and darlin' you're coated in it... " He didn't bother to say blood.

"No." I repeated. He didn't need to see me naked and helpless.

"Ok, you think you can sleep?"

"Yes." I let go of consciousness quickly.

I was hanging in the air, arms on either side, a coldness pressed around me. It was a dream. I was being carried away. I could be dying, this could be death taking me away. I wouldn't know.

Lights flashed, the sensation of moving continued. Softness enveloped me, a pillow behind my head. This dream was good.

Bandages were removed, the air hitting the cuts and they still felt freshly opened, stinging as they lost their covering and were exposed. Cool wetness on one, my hand raised slightly. There was a slight pressure and the fissure on my skin being touched _inside_ confused my mind. Something inside the wound?

The next wrist was treated similarly and I remained in my castle in the air, floating along in the softness around me.

Perhaps I _was_ dying, going home to god and he was fixing me up. At least I hoped I was in heaven.

I was almost naked now, cool air caressing my flesh. We didn't take clothing when we left this earth.

"Drink." The dream whispered.

Hmm?

"It is life. Drink."

I'm dead, don't you know?

"Not yet. Drink." Demanding, persistent.

I listened, and my soul erupted.

***Godric***

I clutched her perfectly curved body close to mine. I could go no faster, lest she be harmed.

It was 3pm, and there was blood seeping from my ears. I managed to press all the necessary buttons to open the door to my room.

She was a mess, and she was beautiful. Maybe more beautiful for it given that she was covered in blood. I laid her on the bed and rested beside her as I had done the first time we met. Taking one arm, I carefully stripped the bandage off her wrist and began to lick.

The flavor, the feel of it, all of what it was, exploded into my body. I could barely contain myself from biting down and I was immediately hard against her thigh. It was agony to not proceed with sinking my fangs into her, but she did not have enough blood and it would be wrong in many ways.

I settled for the other wrist, sealing the wounds gently. Even more softly, I started at the bottom of her dress, ripping the stiff fabric to reveal lace panties and soon a matching bra. There was blood soaked into the fabric of each, but I left them on for her modesty's sake. I wanted, no _needed_ , to see underneath it, but I would wait. In my mind I imagined the soft curl of her womanhood, so similar to Eric's blond.

I ached to lick the rest of her clean. Instead I opted to provide her with my blood, to revitalize her. Given a day, I would be able to drink from her after my blood sped up the process of her body replacing its own stores. My wrist crunched and I straddled her in an effort to use gravity as a way of ensuring it entered her no matter what.

"Drink."

"Hmm..." She whimpered, music to my beast's ears.

 _Please don't make that noise again._

"It is life. Drink."

"I'm dead, don't you know?" She muttered and tripped over her words.

"Not yet. Drink." Her lips moved slowly and I let her latch on.

I felt her all at once. Her emotions were wild and torrential. They relentlessly battered at me and only got stronger as she drank. Her arousal hit just as the wound closed. I couldn't back away, not like this. Instead I moved to put my knees in between hers and hiked up her legs so she could feel what was in between mine.

I growled at her and bent my head to lick a long stripe of dried blood off of her chest, straight down the middle. She shuddered and I pressed my body harder to hers.

"Stop. Stop feeling like you want me too or I won't be able to stop." She didn't fucking stop, even if she intended to.

"Godric…" She wiggled under me, sliding fabric back and forth on my cock.

"Ms. Stackhouse, regain what composure you have left or I will take it from you completely." My hand dug into her hips, forcing them to tilt so that her heat was pushing up into me. Right where I would be if I were inside her.

She blinked a few times and I watched her come down from her high. Her shame enveloped the rest of her emotions, ringing loudly inside the space in me that was all for Sookie now. I didn't want this. I didn't want her when she had no faculties to consent. Shame was an ugly thing to feel from her.

"No. Don't Sookie. Your reaction is natural after having my blood. You are not to blame. I… gave you my blood because there was a concern you could die, and I could not allow that to happen."

"Your blood? That was what I drank?" Her face contorted in confusion and revulsion but then flickered back to shame. The emotions coming from her were much the same, but the shame was tinted with a small amount of curiosity.

It was a good moment to remove myself from between her legs before she realized I was pressed against her. She surprised me with her next sentence.

"You know, it's nice. I can't hear you when you touch me. Touching others… makes their thoughts louder. I feel much better… there's no humming in the background with you. Just a big void of blissful silence." She lay back and let her eyes relax into looking upwards at the ceiling. She felt tense, confessing to me what she did. I don't know if she realized she was almost nude.

"We will discuss your telepathy at a later time. For now, I am pleased that I can be of comfort to you. We must talk about the blood." I lay by her side, propping myself up on my elbow with the rest of my forearm flat to the bed.

Her eyes flicked to me and her insides fluttered with concern and again that agonizing feeling of desire. A blush made its way across her cheeks and I knew it was one I wished to see again, for different reasons. I had visions of her spread out beneath me while I watched her cry and flush with pleasure as I impaled her.

"Sookie… With my blood in you I can feel all that you feel." I let that single sentence stand until she comprehended it. Shock, humiliation, desire and more embarrassment, resignation and longing.

"So you'll always know when… And I'll feel like… what I feel towards you forever?"

"My blood only exaggerates what is already there. It does not create feelings… And it's not forever. Eventually my blood will wear thin and I won't be able to read you." I was walking a fine line with her.

The cacophony of feelings she was experiencing narrowed and then catapulted into anger. Her body shot up off the bed. I had moved with her, placing my chest inches from hers as we stood.

"How dare you. I didn't consent. And you stripped me-"

"I could have not saved you." I interrupted, "and I also could have chosen to not tell you what it would do. Would you have preferred to be ignorant? Or how about dead?" No word on the clothes from me. That might have been the only move I'd made with her that was not necessary.

"Neither! I don't want to die, really, I don't. I just hate that I'm here and that I was attacked and then there's you, just, you. It's too much! It's too strange that I can drink your blood and it does what you say it does. I don't want to have to be indebted to you for saving my life, or be thankful! But I am, and it's confusing-"

I kissed her and pulled her close to me, making good on the instinct I had the first time I saw her. The kiss redefined my world. There was no time or place in it that I wouldn't want her now, and my life before was truly empty without Eric. Now she was here, and pulling away from the kiss I was able to look into her eyes and feel what she felt. Did she want to stay? I wanted her to. She was curious, her thoughts drifting into a soft but flourishing rapture.

"The debt is paid with a kiss, mo ghràdh." Her crystal blue eyes looked up into mine, questioning now, her outrage forgotten amidst the pleasures of being kissed. She was so like my Eric in her fury. It made me want them both at once watching their beautiful scowling at the things they disliked, even each other. But that fantasy was quickly colored by jealousy. Eric would _not_ have her.

"It is? But it doesn't change what you did. You just did it without asking. That's not right Godric." Her voice was sad and disappointed. It hurt.

"No, it doesn't change that I did feed you my blood without explanation or consent. I am… sorry. But it is not permanent, and you _could_ have died." I hadn't said sorry in so many years, for anything.

"What will you do with Debbie?" What punishment wouldn't I do to Debbie. She was in the dungeon now. I had asked Quinn to take her in, out of respect for Alcide's attachment. Ludwig had called my private line that only Eric, Pam and she knew. No one else had reason to have the number. My private phone was kept on my person and its sound could awaken me from dayrest.

After collecting sookie, I had sent Eric a text to deal with the Were until I was able to join him.

"It is none of your concern." Her eyes widened and she reached up both hands to touch the sides of my face, her fingers glancing over my ears.

"Godric, you're bleeding."

"It is nothing. It happens when we awaken earlier than is normal."

"You woke up for me? Because… of what happened?"

"Yes."

"A kiss doesn't clear a debt Godric. I'm not that stupid. Sounds like you expect me to-" Her eyes darkened and more anger welled up inside her.

"There never was a debt, and if there was, the kiss _did_ clear it. Sookie, I would not ever force myself on you. When you choose to be with me, it will be willingly. And I promise you will not regret it." My words were fierce, with a note of arrogance. My ability to detect another's need for particular pleasures had made me a sought after bed companion when I still engaged in such activities with other vampires. Some had said I was the best parts of being human and a vampire, having a nuanced insight into the nature of giving and taking. I trended towards dominant whether I was withholding pleasure or drowning another in it. Hearing my name on her lips would be heaven and when we joined I vowed to myself to wrench as many orgasms as possible from her in a single night. To whisper the sweet nothings that I was sure as a human, she wanted.

"And if I don't ever come to you?" The feeling of chasing prey pressed at me from below the surface.

"Then I must accept that. Though I do not think it will come to that." She pulled away from me, and I felt her trying to convince herself that she didn't want me, that my kissing her had changed nothing.

The second my lips had met hers she had melted inside and the overriding emotion was a sense of being accepted. Its strength and importance to her was not lost on me. She had been verbally and emotionally abused by those around her. It was something I would never, ever do to her, and it finally clicked in her that this was true and that I wanted her for _her_. She was not crazy to me. It was only a matter of time before trust unfurled in her for me, then respect, true affection, and finally attachment. Ending in love and loyalty.

These human feelings were often disposable to vampires, who knew they were based on glamor and being enamored of power. But when Sookie loved me, it would be entirely her choice and it would be real. No glamor to change it and just enough 'other' in her to give her a leg up on not being easily seduced into a connection with a vampire. Yes, both of us needed it to be her decision.

Whether I could love her was another question entirely. Currently I could see no difference that would be discernable to her whether I truly loved her or played the part well. Eric was on target that we did not love, though perhaps I loved him. His actions were in accordance with love. But vampires as a whole were the great pretenders. I could not trust myself in this, but I could measure my previous interactions and current desires as they related to my objective: find my way into Sookie Stackhouse.

"I think… I think I could like you. I think I do. I get that you don't mean to keep me here like this, but it can't be helped I guess. But you have to realize I am a lady and I don't just _do_ things like this." Her body cautiously moved back towards mine, waiting for me to close some of the distance between us. I was hesitant, because her showing desire so soon could snap back like a rubber band. I couldn't resist moving forward anyway, even if I couldn't get more than my fingers and tongue inside her tonight. It would be a pleasure to make sure she never forgot what I could do to her.

"I know you are not like the rest of them. Let me show you my affection?" I asked. Permission was important, to never let her believe I manipulated her into this.

"Yes." She said tentatively, looking questioningly at me. Her wonder at what I was going to show her spurred me onward. It was torturous, not dropping fang, tearing her clothes off and slamming into her violently. The vampire in me wanted to hear screams and begging for me to make her cum and for my bite. Instead I swept her up into my arms and locked my lips around hers again. Her hesitance caused a tightening in my pants; she'd never kissed anyone before me, I knew the truth of it the first time my lips were on hers. Her feelings betrayed her apprehension and hope that she was pleasing to me.

She didn't want to stop this kiss, I could feel. But conflicting wants were not acceptance of circumstances. Her apprehensiveness tinged her desires and I pulled away to look at her searchingly. I knew where her emotions lay, and could even see some of their roots. She lacked confidence in herself, her person and body. Any person faced with a life change of such magnitude would question their judgement. These were all fears I wanted to soothe.

"You are beautiful. All who shun you are wrong to do so. And perhaps they do it because your person eclipses them. I am old enough to recognize a light in the darkness when I see it. I'm going to show you what you already mean to me." I was backing her up to the bed as I spoke, hands caressing her neck, collar bones, down to her shoulders and arms. My body was naturally pressed into hers as she stepped further and further back, finally hitting the edge of the bed with her legs. I sat her down on it, kneeling in front of her on the floor. I moved my lips to kiss her shins, up and down, one trail after another.

She was shuddering now, eyes closed from pleasure that had less and less hesitation to it. Perfect. I vamped to settled behind her back on my knees, hands alight on her neck once more. She gasped and I pushed her hair to the side to hungrily devour the skin behind her ear. I pulled her down, down to her back, her eyes looking up at mine now as her head lay between my spread legs. Backing up, I leaned down to kiss her, my nose to her chin and hers to mine.

Her lips worked more effectively this time, mimicking my movements. I made it a game that I hoped she would catch onto. Each time she found the rhythm of my kiss, I changed the pattern. It allowed me to delve deeper into the act, opening her mouth with a slide of my tongue, asking for entrance past her teeth. She gave in quickly and I placed my hands on either side of her head to help deepen where I wanted to go.

I stopped allowing her to learn and proceeded to dominate her, pressing her tongue against mine and winning every battle.

 _Yield. Submit._

Pulling away, she gasped for air.

"Do you want this between us?" I asked, dreading she would say no. Her eyes opened and closed. I would be lucky if my desperation weren't apparent in my expression. I had no way of knowing. These feelings were overwhelmingly strong, like nothing I'd experienced. Perhaps I was being called to make her my child, but mostly it felt like a need to find myself sated in her arms.

"You'll be my boyfriend right? Stay with me and… there won't be others?" A very human thing to say. I had not a care in the world for vampire or human ritual and culture, so I would be faithful. There was nothing else in the world that competed with these incredible emotions from her and the interest that had crept its way past my better judgement. I was high off of her, off this. Of course, I'd need to defend my fascination with her to other vampires. They would see her as a liability and a way to get to me if she was taken or killed. Of course, they'd find out soon enough that I would react to these threats in my old way, as 'boy death'.

"No others, no one but you. I will be anything you want me to be if only you will be mine. Will you yield?" I was close to breaking apart, wanting to get on my knees and bury my face into the curves between her legs, my nose flush against her mound.

Elation ate through me and I forgot my own evils. She made me forget them when she chose to shine upon me. I could feel her interest, how she pondered our future arrangement.

"I haven't... I mean-" Embarrassment. Unworthiness. They were little gifts in that I had the opportunity to prove she was appreciated and her virginity was nothing to be ashamed of. There would be much to enjoy in teaching her to take pleasure in her own body and mine.

"I know. I will be your first, and I appreciate the value of your gift, should you give it to me." The thought of her arching under me when I would first enter her made my fangs peek out. I covered them with my lips, feeling them cut the soft flesh of them as I kept them unnaturally hidden.

"Yes, then. Yes." Yes. Yes. I resisted the urge to divest her of her underthings instantly and instead opted to put her further up on the bed and myself on top of her. It was done in less than a second and I slammed down my lips on hers before she had a chance to pant out her surprise.

"I'm dirty. There's blood all over. I should shower before we do anything."

"I want you this way. In all ways. I'll lick you clean."

"You really want-" I pressed my tongue to her body, not resisting my urges anymore. Blood was dry on her hips from her wrists resting at her side. I bent to suction all of it off. She moaned, the first of many I would wring from her. I kept at it, my mouth everywhere on her frame. Between her breasts, on her legs, her wrists and stomach. All had moderate amounts of blood, which was divine. Her skin was also just as pleasing to taste, and I most definitely licked parts of her that were not covered in red.

My last long swipe of my tongue went between her breasts, starting at the section of her bra that kept one cup attached to the other all the way up to her neck, paying special care to the dead center dip between her clavicles. More moans.

 _More._

The vampire in me howled now. It knew, every part of me knew, I could not have her blood. But her flesh was fair game.

"Say no now, if this is not what you want. Say it or I won't stop after this point. Even if you beg, and especially if you beg."

"I don't think I'm ready to do everything tonight. Ok? I don't know you that well, and I'm worried I'm only interested because you're interested in me."

"I respect that. It's possible the latter is true, but a great many relationships start that way between humans as well. There's no harm in enjoying how this progresses."

"Oh, okay. That sounds right. So what do we do?"

"This." We were kissing again, and I slowly moved my hands to her ribs, ghosting them across the skin. I pulled away and made eye contact, moving to stroke her hair back in affection. She really was gorgeous with her long blonde hair, blue eyes and tan skin. She squirmed a little under the intensity of my gaze and I pressed my lips to her forehead to calm her. I decided to send her a few of my emotions. Desire. A need for relaxation and homecoming into her body. Appreciation and awe.

Her breath shortened and she held it tight before releasing it. The sound of her heart beat ringing in my ears, its pace quickening. I nuzzled my face into her hair, inhaling the rich, sparkling scent of her fae sweetness, dae fire, and her promise of sustenance that was solely human.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks Suzy for the beta work!

***Eric***

My phone had a text from Godric.

 _Go to the dungeon and punish a one Debbie Pelt. You need say nothing to her. Do not kill her, but bring her as close to the point of death as you can while allowing for your actions to be repeated over a month's time. I will attend later in the evening to join you, Debbie and Edward._

Debbie was a Were that some of the vampires here preferred to feed on, though she smelled like a dog. She and the Were Alcide had a grand breakup that rippled through the donor's grapevine of gossip this past year. It had almost gotten her killed, but it would have complicated things with the local pack to do so. Alcide himself had tried to avoid the conflict and was worth far more for his attentiveness to his guard duties than Debbie's blood.

Whatever she had done, it had angered Godric far beyond basic reproach. It had been several hundred years since he'd bothered himself with the torture of anyone but vampires. I knew without a doubt it had something to do with the hybrid.

As for Edward, he was a simple human. It was beneath my concern to find out what he had done until Godric informed me of it.

I would not be caught looking out of the loop by questioning the guards regarding Debbie or Edward. Using the timestamp on Godric's text as a starting point, I would check the security footage regarding any altercations involving Debbie.

Piecing the story together, even I was infuriated. I watched as Godric carried her body to his room from the hospital wing. From there I saw her on a stretcher moving from one of those tiny rooms to her destination, strapped to a hospital bed, Alcide and another donor by her side frantically trying to keep the hybrid awake as the sheets over her darkened with blood. I saw Debbie leave the room with a bloody knife. And lastly, I watched the camera in her room and bathroom, as Debbie incapacitated her, slit her wrists and threw her in the shower. Such cowardice.

I vowed to find out who was complicit in this, using the cameras and wiretaps at my disposal I followed Debbie's every move and conversation previous to the attack until I found those who may have been involved. It was what Godric would expect, and I would do it anyway to rid the donor pool of trash.

As a vampire, I could fast forward through the tape and not worry about missing a place where I should stop. My eyes could see as quickly as the the tape was rewinding. I used a pair of headphones to start reviewing the audio in the areas where I had seen Debbie that day. Finally, I hit pay dirt.

It was Yvetta and Debbie, laughing and plotting against the blonde. There was no real need to save the footage, but force of habit regarding documentation required me to make a copy of the audio and video to keep on file.

Finishing up, I made my way to the dungeons. Yvetta had reason to hate the fairy. Debbie was Yvetta's friend, and I had to imagine that this connection was enough to foster Debbie's hatred of Sookie. But to that extent? As for Yvetta, I would deal with her later.

I found my body working its way towards Godric's room. It was on the way to the dungeon, in a roundabout sense. Tense, I paused outside his door, searching the bond for his acknowledgement.

He opened it and a heated blast of lust crashed into me. If he wasn't inside _her,_ he was enjoying her in some other manner. Greatly. I strained to hear through the door. We installed vampire-hearing proof walls and doors on all rooms, but given that Godric and I were older, we could hear through it somewhat.

She was panting. I heard her say 'please' and then Godric growling his response. His head was between her legs, the gentle sounds of his lips on her wetness sharp in my ears. Every whimper and cry set Godric further on edge, and by extension, me. He knew I was here, experiencing this with him and he himself was feeling triumphant.

"Give up Sookie. Let it take you." Godric's words were gentle, deceptively so. I knew my maker well enough to know that those words were an order, not to be disobeyed. Sookie obliged and I felt a swelling of feeling inside me along with-.

 _Godric no!_

He given her his blood. I could feel her orgasm, through Godric. Godric snatched my presence inside the bond and then threw me out of it. It was disorienting, one second being in the thick of their intimacy and then the next finding dead silence but for the muffled movement and moans behind the door. I removed my focus from listening and tried to ignore how hard I was. The last sensations I had gotten from Godric through the bond were pride and satisfaction from making the fairy cum under him as well as a flare of possessiveness for her as he kicked me out, effectively saying she was his now, for good. I realized he had only let me participate long enough to know that he was serious about her and that he would not be sharing, now or ever.

Godric had always shared with me, only ever taunting _other_ vampires when he had something they wanted. Never me. It was the first time he had ever truly declared something for his person alone, besides me, and I was on the receiving end of his bragging rights. When he had told me he wasn't going to divide her attentions, I had not taken it as seriously as I did now.

It was a good night for there to be prisoners in the dungeon.

***Sookie***

I was pretty sure I was meeting God. With a capital G.

There had been a lot of pain. The only thing that had pierced the drifting feeling of floating above my body. Now there were fireworks going off in my head and something thick and wonderful was pouring down my throat.

Debbie! Oh shit! Everything flooded back to me with clarity. Debbie's fist, laying in the shower, my trip to the on-site doctor. Her mention of my not being human. Alcide. And lastly, Godric carrying me here, laying me down.

I had a rush of thoughts and feelings. This, laying here with Godric, was too intimate to be doing with someone I barely knew. My captor, a vampire. I wanted nothing to do with a situation that put me in the center of being disliked by every other person here. And whatever I was drinking felt terribly good. The spikes of energy and pure, unadulterated pleasure were like the large church bells that call people to mass. It reverberated through my body and then nestled itself low in my gut, leaving me taut and coiled with desire.

 _This isn't right. This is the furthest thing from right._

Through the distracting arousal, I had acute awareness of him. The feel of him on me was sharp. His body between my legs, my thighs pushed up by carefully pressed fingers, the rounded and long hardness that must be his…

 _Oh. Oh!_

I was a high schooler again, fantasizing about having a boyfriend. Plucking memories from girls my age of shadowy fumblings on couches and in cars. The squeeze of a breast that could someday be mine and the press of a man's desire against my person. For me. Things I'd only tasted in other's thoughts and craved until I gave up the hunger, resigning myself to starvation.

It was all here for the taking and giving. I was partially naked under him, and that fact shattered me into pieces of fear before gluing me back together with lust.

And then he _licked_. My body was covered in caked blood that flaked and stained my undergarments. There was a cool touch on my sternum and if ribs could ripple, my chest would have imitated an ocean wave.

He felt my shaking and hemmed my mind and body in all the more.

I barely registered his words. Husky and cracking, he said something knowing. It didn't matter what he had said. My insides were stroked with the sound coming from him.

"Godric…"

"Ms. Stackhouse, regain what composure you have left or I will take it from you completely." Threat explicit, I remembered who I was. I was Sookie Stackhouse, bar maid, caretaker for my Gran, a lady, a sister, a friend and a good person. The kind of girl who does not find herself in compromising positions with men she doesn't know.

Humiliation got the drop on me. Alcide had asked to take off my clothes and I'd said no, but Godric lays on top of me, gives me something to drink, strips me of clothing and suddenly I'm a horn dog fantasizing about a relationship with my jailer.

I wondered what he thought and I realized I couldn't hear him. Blissfully silent. No other chatter in the background that always existed before.

"No. Don't Sookie. Your reaction is natural after having my blood. You are not to blame. I… gave you my blood because there was a concern you could die, and I could not allow that to happen."

"Your blood? That was what I drank?" Oh my god. Really? He was serious. I'd never shared bodily fluids with anyone in my life and I just swallowed several mouthfuls of his blood. And it felt good. Is that what it was supposed to do? Feel good? I was mortified that this might be true, and I felt even worse because I wanted to know more about it. One part of me wanted to pretend it had never happened and the other was curious, interested.

He moved off of me carefully. My body didn't want him to leave. As soon as he wasn't touching me, the whispers of thoughts filled in the peripheral spaces. It was something I'd been used to all my life and yet for whatever reason, having it return was painful.

"You know, it's nice. I can't hear you when you touch me. Touching others… makes their thoughts louder. I feel much better… there's no humming in the background with you. Just a big void of blissful silence." I tried to sound complimentary, not desperate. My eyes drifted upwards and I tried so hard to not make what I said sound really important. But it was. I couldn't help that it meant a great deal to me.

"We will discuss your telepathy at a later time. For now, I am pleased that I can be of comfort to you. We must talk about the blood." He was at my side now, looking at me, his face unreadable. I was more than happy to dismiss my pathetic desire for him to touch me and give me long-needed silence. And the blood. Jesus it was dominating my thoughts. Like how boys collected 'material' for their 'spank bank', I kept rotating back to it despite my best efforts to compose myself.

"Sookie… With my blood in you I can feel all that you feel." What?

No. No, this wasn't happening. My embarassment knew no boundaries. That he was calling me out told me that he wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on inside of me.

 _Sookie, you get rid of those thoughts right now. He's a vampire king. You're a waitress at a dive. He may have brought you some gifts, but a gift does not a relationship make. He's probably got loads of vampires he spends time with._

He had saved me. His reasons would be his own and I was lucky to be alive. I just wished… that it meant something. That I would stop feeling this way about him.

"So you'll always know when… And I'll feel like… what I feel towards you forever?"

"My blood only exaggerates what is already there. It does not create feelings… And it's not forever. Eventually my blood will wear thin and I won't be able to read you." Confirmation that he is not interested in the slightest, and that he knows I am. Why would he do something like this that involves outright shaming me? It's mean, and spiteful. Even though I read minds, I never tailored anything I said to hurt anyone's feelings based on their thoughts.

"How dare you. I didn't consent. And you stripped me-" _You don't even like me, yet you take my clothes off. I don't need this after all I've been through. Kidnapped, harassed, beaten up and bled out. Didn't want this._ I jumped up and stood, but he was there in front of me in one blink.

"I could have not saved you." he interrupted, "and I also could have chosen to not tell you what it would do. Would you have preferred to be ignorant? Or how about dead?"

"Neither! I don't want to die, really, I don't. I just hate that I'm here and that I was attacked and then there's you, just, you. It's too much!" I had vocal diarrhea, saying everything that crossed my mind and then some. What I wanted was for me to not be here, and baring that, for Debbie to have not attacked me. And drinking anyone's blood, even to heal, was too weird. Especially if it meant someone could listen in to every single emotion I have.

"It's too strange that I can drink your blood and it does what you say it does. I don't want to have to be indebted to you for saving my life, or be thankful! But I am, and it's confusing-"

His mouth covered mine. My first kiss. It felt better than every other first kiss that happened to anyone in Bon Temp I was sure. And I got that information straight from the horse's mouth. Er, head. It was dizzying to experience, his lips plucking at mine tenderly.

"The debt is paid with a kiss, mo ghràdh." Why?

"It is? But it doesn't change what you did. You just did it without asking. That's not right Godric."

"No, it doesn't change that I did feed you my blood without explanation or consent. I am… sorry. But it is not permanent, and you _could_ have died." He sounded so sincere and my heart lurched towards him, tendrils of feeling finding purchase on his honest-seeming words. They coiled and grabbed at the good parts, and I felt all of it shrink down into a single moment of recognition that he'd gotten me. Just a little. He was there inside, and I was comforted. It was time for a subject change before I started petting his face and wanting to kiss him again like a fool.

"What will you do with Debbie?" I didn't want anything bad to happen to her. Maybe they could make her go away with that glamour of theirs.

"It is none of your concern." And then I saw it. Blood. Coming out of his ears. He was injured! Had Debbie attacked him too?

"Godric, you're bleeding." Hopefully that didn't come out as a whine.

"It is nothing. It happens when we awaken earlier than is normal." Relief, and then… it wasn't dark yet? It seemed like hours that I'd been out.

"You woke up for me? Because… of what happened?"

"Yes." He looked expectant and it hit me.

"A kiss doesn't clear a debt Godric. I'm not that stupid. Sounds like you expect me to-" Ugh. Even the idea of him wanting that of me evoked two entirely different sets of feelings. Yes. No. But yes. But no!

"There never was a debt, and if there was, the kiss _did_ clear it. Sookie, I would not ever force myself on you." Relief.

"When you choose to be with me, it will be willingly. And I can promise you will not regret it." Frozen, I put on my mask to respond, since my mind's mouth was opening and closing like a frog's.

"And if I don't ever come to you?" One more push. A little pull, and I think I might tumble over the edge. My family forgotten. The life I'd lived far in the distance. I could see Godric being a person who mattered to me. Someone important to care for. To… enjoy the things that had always been denied me. I could trade one set of abnormal experiences for another, all to gain what I'd missed.

"Then I must accept that. Though I do not think it will come to that."

 _It doesn't work like this! I can't be a slave and be happy._

 _But nothing has ever been normal Sookie. You've never loved, never opened yourself up to the idea of being with another._

 _He holds the keys to my freedom. How can I love someone who keeps me captive?_

 _This is life as it is now. Take the good and keep it close. That which comes from love is worth keeping. Love can grow in the strangest of places; it can grow here._

"I think… I think I could like you. I think I do. I get that you don't mean to keep me here like this, but it can't be helped I guess. But you have to realize I am a lady and I don't just _do_ things like this." I stepped forward. My angel had won out, as it always had. He closed the gap, an almost imperceptible smile hovering on his lips.

"I know you are not like the rest of them. Let me show you my affection? He held back from touching me, asking for my consent. It felt sweet. He was giving me a choice he didn't have to give me as a vampire, as a king. I wouldn't want him if he hadn't done so, but I could appreciate what it meant.

"Yes." The next kiss was magical. Passionate. I was Scarlett from Gone with the Wind in this place and time.

" _I want you to faint. This is what you were meant for. None of the fools you've ever known have kissed you like this, have they?"_

 _Don't faint Sookie. Give yourself a chance to find out if he's a Rhett or an Ashley. But what if he_ was _and Ashley? Could I handle that?_

"You are beautiful, you know. All who shun you are wrong to do so. And perhaps they do it because your person eclipses them. But I am old enough to recognize a light in the darkness when I see it. I'm going to show you what you already mean to me." The right words. My body was weak and it let him lead the way to his bed. Back and back.

Tremors ran their way through me, and I kept my eyes closed to savor the happenings with my other senses. Featherlight touch on my legs trailing ever upward.

I felt the bed indent with what must be his knees behind me on either side. Cool hands on my neck, hair softly moving to the side.

My gasp was involuntary, and necessary. Soft kisses behind my ear, dragging me down. I let myself lay down and opened my eyes.

Godric's lips were parted, his eyes wide and... reverent? He was so handsome. He only gave me a moment before moving his body backwards. So fast. He kissed me again, and my world unhinged itself from reality and began to orbit the sensation of soft presses and pulls.

I let go of inexperience, of not knowing. Instead I moved with him, as if I had fallen into a river with current I could not fight. Should not fight. And like a river, he changed direction willfully. Spinning me this way and that, dizzying swirls of spontaneity.

He searched and guided me with his tongue and hands, placing me here and there for a myriad of sensation.

When he let up, I remembered that I needed air.

"Do you want this between us?" Godric had said something.

"You'll be my boyfriend right? Stay with me and… there are no others, right?" So bold I was. But I could not stand to see him with anyone else. It was a feeble request. If he never saw me again after this night, I had no power over that.

"No others, no one but you. I will be anything you want me to be if only you will be mine. Will you yield?" The _right_ words.

"I haven't... I mean-" Sadly I would be a big disappointment for Godric. I was selfishly throwing myself at him, but there wasn't much to give him in return. I had no skills in the bedroom department.

"I know. I will be your first, and I appreciate the value of your gift, should you give it to me." I don't know how he knew, but he did. It was time to let go.

"Yes, then. Yes." I was lifted and placed further up, my legs now on the bed. He was on top of me, compressing me. It felt good to be squeezed by him. I wanted this to be good for him too. For us. To make it perfect.

"I'm dirty. There's blood all over. I should shower before we do anything."

"I want you this way. In all ways. I'll lick you clean."

"You really want-" And it began without further delay. There were flicks of cold flesh upon mine. He sucked at my hip, a place I'd never imagined was so erogenous. My thighs weren't neglected, his mouth precariously close to a part of me that begged to be what he was kissing. It was overwhelming me, the places he found to lave and scour with his mouth.

When he flattened his tongue at the bottom of my sternum above my bra and dragged it to my neck, I was done for.

"Say no now, if this is not what you want. Say it or I won't stop after this point. Even if you beg, and especially if you beg."

"I don't want to do everything tonight. Ok? I don't know you that well, and I'm worried I'm just interested because you're interested in me." My mind spun out stubborn reasons. More words coming out of my mouth that I had no control over. They were reasonable words, but at the end of the day, he already had me. I'd already given up.

"I respect that. It's possible the latter is true, but a great many relationships start that way between humans as well. There's no harm in enjoying how this progresses." He may be a vampire, but he was also a man. And no matter what anyone had said, he'd been kind to me. My lust was mingling now with how much I was starting to _like_ him.

"Oh, okay. That sounds right. So what do we do?"

 _Please tell me. I'm so lost in this bliss I couldn't find my way out with a GPS._

"This." Taking the lead, he kissed me some more and I sank into his attentions. Groaning, his hands wandered over my naked frame, gossamer soft. I felt like I was one giant goose bump, every portion of me standing at attention.

He picked that moment to look at me, to see me. His hand pushed my hair back gently and I was pinioned under the intensity of his gaze. When he came down to press his lips to my forehead I felt sentiments that weren't mine. I was appreciated, valued. Fear was drowned in the promise of peace and a union of sorts.

He pressed his face into my hair, and I heard him breathe in.

"I want you Godric." I choked out in a needy whisper.

That was all it took for him to switch into a taskmaster hell bent on extracting pleasure.

"Watch me." I did and he languidly licked both of his forefingers and brought them down to slowly trace circles around my nipples. My intake of breath was sharp, my back arching and eyes closing.

"Look Sookie." I whimpered, dropping myself back down on the bed. He didn't stop and was now gently twisting and turning his forefingers and thumbs around them, a fanged smile greeting my eyes.

He looked positively dangerous and devastatingly gorgeous. Godric may have been made a vampire when he was barely out of puberty, but watching him so easily work me over with a total of four fingers was wholly masculine.

"Shall I tell you what I'm going to do with you?" He stopped playing with my chest and let his hands softly caress my stomach and breasts, gently massaging the swells of flesh.

"Mm." No words.

"I will take that as a yes. You're going to cum for me. It's neither here nor there if you scream my name tonight. You'll be thinking it when you yield. There will be a next time, and soon I'm going to want to hear certain things from you. My name. How you belong to me. How much you love what I am doing to you. That I rule your desires." His voice dropped register after register and he started to tell these things to my skin. Soft puffs of breath from his speaking moving from my stomach up to my chest, neck and then cheek.

I watched him blearily as he crawled forward. Anticipation took the liberty of rearranging my focus to notice only his eyes, which promised that everything he said was true.

"Nothing to say, mo ghràdh?" He waited, smiling his deadly and seductive smile. More mewling. I thrust my hips upward. I'd lost presence of mind when it came to my body. Thinking of it now, I felt wetness between my thighs and a need wound so tightly it threatened to implode.

He was looking down on me again, and I shook my head 'no'.

"Beautiful." His mouth went straight for one nipple and then the other. His pace quickened and I swore he must have been a Hindu god given how many hands I felt were on me.

It was what I dreamed of, but never what I had imagined happening. No one I had ever listened in on had the perfect lover. There was always something a little annoying every person had to tolerate in another as a matter of course.

Not so with Godric. I was aware enough to recognize that it was his blood in me that had him feeling _exactly_ where he should be touching.

He didn't pause at my entrance before inserting a finger; he knew I was ready and that every part of me was begging. I was already on top of the metaphorical mountain, and being afraid of heights I held tight to my control. It didn't matter, as I felt my grip on existence and substance slip inexorably away.

Abruptly his finger was gone and the emptiness inside my being was replaced by his tongue. He gripped my hips, his arms wrapped around my thighs. There wasn't any escape, though I thrashed for one, trying to outwit the engulfing orgasm.

"Give up Sookie. Let it take you." He thrust a finger back in and sucked on my nub, _hard._ I screamed and heard my own voice subside into a sob and then a whimper.

Godric lay beside me, tracing lazy circles with his finger over the skin of my breasts while I shook uncontrollably. As I lay there, only abstractly recognizing the pleasure of his scrutiny, the need to sleep hit me like a ton of bricks.

My eyes closed of their own accord and Godric's attentions began to feel soothing instead of sexual.

He knew I was on my way to counting sheep.

"You will stay here during the day and there will be a guard. I will have food brought to you as well as clothes. I'll be here at sundown."

"K." I managed.

"Goodnight Sookie." I heard his voice from far away.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for the beta Suzy Meinen!

Songs I listen to when writing this:

Summit - Skrillex (Ellie Goulding)

Flesh without Blood/Life in the vivid dream - Grimes

Sun - Two Door Cinema Club

Slow Motion - Phox

Reflections - Misterwives

Holy Ghost - Borns

Gooey - Glass Animals

Armour - Tender

Running to the sea - Royksopp

The reviews I've received on this story are lovely. Sorry for the delayed update guys. I've had some writing block, but reading a few other stories has helped me get over some of it!

***Eric***

I waited, halfway between thinking and downtime.

Chains clinked together.

My fist impacted her gut as I vamped from my chair over to her.

"Did we not speak on the concept of 'don't move?'"

She whined like a dog, her body shimmering and undulating in her attempt to shift. Her eyes were yellow, canines slightly extended, but she retained her human form, too beaten to become a wolf.

A shoe scuffed itself on the concrete in the cell next door to the Were. I had not a single clue why the human was here, but Godric always had a good reason.

Unless the hybrid had sucked it out of his head when she drank his blood. I tried closing my mind to the sounds and feelings of a half hour ago. I would have been happier having my hand ripped off than having heard them.

It had occurred to me that maybe Godric felt the call to make her his child. Which was understandable and acceptable. Godric would have complete command, and she… would be vampire. With an insatiable need for blood and sex.

While Godric would give her her fill, usually other children could and would eventually partake in the lust of their new sibling. That was yet another way to bring Godric closer. All plans I could make still hinged on making nice to her, whether she be vampire or only part fairy. Even if I hated with every fiber of my being what I had heard and felt between the two.

I had thought about the report I would give Godric, how sympathetic I should sound regarding what happened to the girl and what actions I could take to please him most.

He may want to personally deal with Yvetta. I would have to ask. At the very least he would kill Debbie. As for the human prisoner, a glamour would do.

Yes, Godric would want the tapes and audio, even if he wouldn't watch them. I would try to sound like I cared about the half fairy. It would be difficult to manipulate the bond with Godric, but he hadn't been keeping it open much anyway.

Perhaps there was value in truly beginning to care for her if she was going to be my sister.

The door to the dungeon yanked its way open, slamming just as quickly and I felt the air's disturbance as Godric stood next to me. He reeked of sweet-smelling cum. I looked up at him and noticed his eyes were still somewhat dark and he was quietly sucking on a forefinger.

Without saying a word, he walked over to Debbie. Her eyes were wild with fear and she shrunk against the wall.

Before Godric's arrival I had done as he asked and had caused enough blood loss and pain to weaken her, but only with repeated attentions would she succumb in a month's time. Torture was a science that I had been proficient at for centuries.

Godric scrunched down to sit on the balls of his feet. He gripped her face with the same hand of the finger he'd been licking. As he held her jaw he unhurriedly rubbed his forefinger on her nose. I saw her inhale and her body freeze.

"Do you understand now? Blink once if you do." From this angle I could see he had her lifted up by her head alone and she did as he bade, blinking. Weres had excellent scenting abilities. Some of their kind had tracking skills comparable to a vampire's and we often used them for such purposes.

Debbie was more than able to smell what kind of scent was on Godric's hand.

It was over in the blink of an eye. Godric crushed her skull as he simultaneously ripped off her head, tossing it at the bars where the human was held. Blood splattered all over Godric and the human, the latter of whom shrieked.

So much for keeping the Were alive to extract more punishment.

"At the beginning of this night, I wanted to take care of you both as befit your crimes. But I find now that I am impatient to return to other things." Godric stood and looked at Edward without menace or any other emotion besides maybe slight irritation. My maker turned away from the human and looked at me.

"My child, you have punished Compton?"

"Yes. He has been tasked with being the errand bitch for all vampires in the palace for a week." It really was a good punishment. Tailored to fit his brown-nosing personality.

"We'll be adding further to that." He smirked deviously.

"In the meantime, have Quinn clean up this mess." He finished, gesturing at the remains of Debbie Pelt.

"And the human, master?" Godric spoke to me in old Norse then, telling me his plan for the human. It turned out that Edward was a spy for Russell and I couldn't help but smile thinking of what kind of gift basket we'd be sending the other king in thanks.

"Before you complete your task, let us go to my office." We both left the human confused and covered in blood.

Godric had not a care in the world regarding his appearance as it was. He was grinning now from ear to ear as he shuffled papers across his desk.

"Master?" I prompted, uncomfortable with my maker being so _happy_.

"I command you to never tell anyone what I am about to tell you."

God damn maker's command. He was throwing it around carelessly, making me out to be untrustworthy. I bit back resentment and anger and said only, "yes."

"Sookie, the part-fairy, is telepathic. Likely due to the demon gift. It is of the line of Dantalion. I have a contact who is of that family, but I am still debating on reaching out to anyone regarding her heritage. I have a suspicion she is under some form of protection. But I intend to operate as if she is not."

"Can she hear us?" The only true threat, as far as I could see. And if she were so heavily protected, why had no one come to collect her?

"No."

"And how do you know she isn't lying."

"You know how I know." Blood. I'd wanted to deny it, forget and push the truth away. More tempting images weaved their way into my mind. Godric in front of her and myself behind her, biting and fucking, clashing fangs over her body. Godric feeding her his blood while I drank from her femoral artery. Sookie with her hands fisted in my hair using me as a support while I watched her take all of my maker in as he kneeled behind her. Me buried in Godric as he was inside of her.

 _This is blood. This is how it speaks. It is nothing more than that. You are only hearing echoes._

"Of course I will keep this secret, command or no. This is how you know of the spy."

"Yes."

"There are possibilities… she could read the entire staff. We could negotiate contracts for her powers with other monarchs and-"

"No! She has agreed to read the staff, and it will always be her choice. But there will be no _others_ using her in any capacity. Sookie is _mine_." My maker looked crazed then, his hands clenching and unclenching, eyes dark with bloodlust.

"She is yours." Godric retracted his fangs, but eyed me warily. The entire situation was galling, and humiliating. When Godric was possessive like this, being kind to the part fairy could backfire. He would suspect my intentions. I would have to start on earning Godric's trust concerning the girl, given that he would not likely let me near her alone otherwise.

"I will defend your claim. Tell me what I can do to smooth this transition?" Watching Godric reduced to a state of covetousness was disconcerting. I'd seen that look before, for me. So long ago, on a funeral pyre.

"Have the Were, Janice, see to Sookie's attire. Alcide to guard her door. He is not to let her leave under any circumstances. No one is to enter her room, but for Janice and a heavily glamored servant to deliver food. And it would be best if the Were guard were not to speak to her for too long." Again, Godric twitched and nearly shuddered anger. I'd never seen him have this little control.

"Yes master." I tried not to sigh with relief. Well-completed tasks were a good way to show my devotion.

"Tell me, who else was involved in her attack?" I felt perforated by his gaze. He wasn't accusatory, but knowing which human was guilty caused my chest to tighten.

"Yvetta." I said without hesitation.

"I do not care how you deal with it, but she must be ended. No glamor. I want her to know why she dies." Thankful he did not hold me responsible for her behavior, I nodded.

"I will take care of this. The human?" Godric's curling smile turned into bloodthirsty delight. If there was one good thing about this, the hybrid had brought out 'boy death' in Godric. I was beginning to suspect that while the girl would be a liability, any who threatened her would find his or her true death.

"Tomorrow." My maker breathed.

***Sookie***

"Can I leave? Please?"

"No. I'm sorry hun. Orders are orders." My congenial, if disapproving guard said.

"Well can I at least see any of my friends?"

"No one is allowed in, except authorized personnel."

"Alcide, I'm bored out of my damn mind! Can you send the 'authorized personnel'? Please."

"They'll be here when they're here. We shouldn't even be talking." Alcide said nervously.

"Fine. I'll go read a book or something…" Stupid vampire, keeping me cooped up in here.

I had woken up around eleven, carefully ensconced in Godric's bed under the covers in some pink pajamas. The minute I arose, a servant snuck in and placed food on a table that sat near a window. Last night the windows had been sealed shut with metal, but they must have been opened in the meantime to let the sun in. I lay in bed listening to the shuffling of dishes before I made to get up and speak to the servant.

"Hey… Can you-" The door slammed and the person was gone. Ugh. If I had known they were going to dip out so quickly I would have jumped off the bed and begged them to take me with.

I had expected my body to ache, but instead I felt invigorated. And hungry.

Sliding out of the bed, I noticed that my person was unblemished. Bruises and cuts were gone. Like the attack never happened. While I was happy that I wasn't injured, I felt a little odd about it. With a combination of glamour and vampire blood healing, how was any human to ever know they'd been assaulted? The thought of how wrong Dawn and the others might be about the safety of living here frightened me.

The table held enough food for five people. Before eating I went to check the door. It was locked, but after I tried the handle a couple of times it opened. At that point Alcide and I had our conversation.

As for the breakfast, there were pancakes, bacon, sausage, french toast, eggs, homefries, a ground beef hash, omelettes, fruit, bagels, cereal, milk, orange juice… Basically every breakfast food one could get, and portions made for two people. Vampires must know zilch about how much humans can eat.

I tucked in with gusto however, denting a good portion of the food. I promised Godric I would eat.

Feeling stuffed, I went to Alcide and asked him if he could have someone take the food where others could eat it. Maybe the other guards?

He said I was generous, but reinforced that it was unnecessary of me to offer. I sighed and closed the door.

Exploring, I wandered on into the bathroom and gasped at how large it was. Ok, I wasn't going to feel the slightest bit bad taking a shower. Water wasn't that expensive and a squirt or two of bath products wasn't anything my friends wouldn't have offered if I stayed at their place.

The shower was amazing, as I expected it would be. I felt alive under it. It had to be Godric's blood because this was downright incredible, feeling every droplet slide down my skin. I rubbed my breasts and my own touch reminded me of Godric's. Even pushing my hands down my skin to rub soap on my body echoed his attentions.

It was funny how that orgasm only made my libido more alert. Or was it the blood? God, who knows? But this was almost annoying, brushing my hand over my nether regions, inspiring little tweaks and twitches of arousal. Almost.

I got out and dried off, putting the pink pajamas back on before brushing out my hair. My face was bright, skin clear. Even my hair was more blonde than I thought it could be. Godric owed me some more answers regarding his blood.

Heading out to the other room, I noticed that the table was now set with lunch food. Sighing in agitation and boredom, I snagged a single sandwich and looked around. I spotted my book and started reading in an arm chair, taking bites out of my food. It was difficult to concentrate when I was being held prisoner in Godric's room. Last night had been wonderful, but as the clock ticked away, it was being spoiled.

How could he leave me in here with no one to interact with? I wasn't some princess to lock away in a castle. I was upset that he didn't trust me to be on my own. And being useful was important. I wasn't going accept all this generosity without earning my way, which I couldn't do in this room. Even the food and these books, they weren't mine and I hadn't earned them.

It was 3pm before a knock came at the door. It was Janice and she had a whole rack of clothing. Other servants followed behind with what looked like the entire contents of a beauty salon.

"Hey sweetheart! I heard what happened. It's been all anyone's been able to talk about! You ok darlin'?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess I'm fine. Thanks to Godric." She smiled and started pulling out boxes of shoes, makeup and hair... stuff.

"He's really taken a shinin' to you. Ain't never seen him with a human before! You're a lucky gal!" I scoffed.

"He'll be lucky I don't slap him silly if he doesn't let me out of this room!" She blanched and said nothing. Everyone else seemed to be terrified of Godric, which I understood objectively, but my mind couldn't categorize him that way. He'd been gentle. And even though he claimed to be bad, he didn't seem that way. I didn't think he was lying about our being exclusive to one another either.

 _My first boyfriend is a vampire king. Sounds like a reality show._

He wanted me, thought I was beautiful. I was a little overweight, but he didn't seem to notice and if anything the way he touched me made it seem that he liked a little extra. Well, I could be imagining things. Maybe he hadn't been with anyone else as all the girls had said. Still, boyfriends don't lock girlfriends in their room! Even if he _was_ extremely talented with his fingers. He and I were going to have a talk.

 _Unless he uses those fingers on you again Sookie. Then there'll be no talking._

Stupid, unfairly sexy vampire.

"I brought all sorts of things for you to pick out! Lot's of cute dresses-"

"I'm not takin' any of this. A single dress is a one time thing, but all this? I don't need all that makeup or anythin' off that rack. You know, I have my own bank account and money that I can use for this stuff, if they'd just let me out!"

"But honey, you have Godric now, and he's gonna take care of you!"

"I've been taking care of me just fine. He doesn't need to step in and do it for me!"

"You sure you don't want to look at any of this?" She looked at me nervously.

"No. Not a chance." I crossed my arms and glared at the offending items.

"Honey you can't go wanderin' around in those pjs. Not even one little ole thing?" She said convincingly.

"Fine! Just one dress and some underthings. But that's it!" She beamed at me and pulled out a few dresses. They _were_ cute. But I wasn't a kept woman, no matter how handsome and well off the man. _And talented. Jesus Christ Shepherd of Judea. That was what all the fuss was about, being with a man. And what a fuss it was. I gotta wonder what's in those pants of his..._

Cheese and rice I was _still_ thinking dirty thoughts of Godric, even though he had trapped me here! And we hadn't even had sex yet. I held back a groan at the thought of how deep I had fallen into the rabbit hole.

Janice handed me a pink dress with a matching bra and panty set. She dutifully turned around to give me privacy as I quickly yanked up the underwear and snapped on the bra. The dress was a zip up and I was able to close it on my own.

"Ready."

"That pastel pink looks fabulous on you! That's a keeper. But this pale blue… Oh Sookie you should take them both! They were made for you!" Janice held up the blue dress she had clutched in her hands over my frame. The Were's eyes were sparkling with happiness, like I was her personal barbie doll to dress up. I ought not to think negatively of her, since she was only doing her job. But having a closet made up for me wasn't wanted!

"Janice. Seriously. Godric can shove it." She lowered her hands that were still holding the dress and looked down at the floor.

"Sookie, I gotta do this. You understand right? Godric is gonna be unhappy if I don't do what he order'd."

"I'll tell him it's not your fault. And that's unbelievable that he'd punish you for something I did!" I was practically shouting. How ridiculous! There was no way in hell he was going to do anything mean to Janice on my behalf. Everyone seemed so afraid of Godric, and maybe he qualified as one scary vampire, but that didn't make him unreasonable or unapproachable.

"He's the king Sookie! Please don't get yourself in trouble!" Janice looked terrified and it only served to make me madder 'n a hornet.

"He ain't _my_ king." I sniffed.

"Please." She whispered.

"Fine! Leave it all here! I'll deal with him later."

"Everythin' all right in here?" Alcide had opened the door and looked around the room and back at us.

"It's fine Alcide. Except that I'm caged in here like some kind of animal. And you know, Godric wants to dress me up himself, because apparently I can't do it on my own." He smiled at me and then winked at Janice before closing the door.

"I'm going to get going Sookie. Gotta be there to get the others ready."

"You can't stay?" I sounded whiny. I had appreciated her company, even if it wasn't a desirable circumstance.

"Sorry sweetie. Godric will be here soon!"

"I'm sorry for being ungrateful and rude Janice. I've been gone from home for a couple of days and this is all new to me. I miss my family and I'm not the kind of girl who wants a guy to buy things for her like this. Maybe flowers, but not this. And not under these circumstances." I sat down on the bed, feeling forlorn. Janice walked over carefully, like I might explode at any moment. I would when the time was right, but not at her.

She gently sat down next to me and put her hand on mine.

"Godric is a good vampire. He's never been abusive to the humans. Always takes care of us. He's real mean to other vampires if they cross him. But he doesn't bother hurtin' any non-vampires. Just glamours 'em away. Ok? He wants to be nice to you. Let him honey. He obviously cares for you a lot to do all this."

"I know. We… had a good night." I blushed before continuing, "but that doesn't excuse the fact that he's held me in here all day with no company or way out. And now he's trying to buy me things without my input. I won't have it."

"Honey, you were just attacked by someone who meant for you to die. Can you see his side of things?"

I frowned and looked at her without saying anything.

"We don't know if anyone else was involved who might hurt you next. It's not safe for you to be out there if Godric hasn't made an official claim that you're his either. Because other vampires aren't always like Godric. Ok Sookie?" The threat wasn't subtle that other vampires might bite and ask questions later. Further lending itself to the idea that this place was not an idyllic paradise. I realized that explaining this to any of the other women and men was a moot point. They could be glamored and there would always be those like Dawn, willing to risk the worst for a better life most of the time.

In a way, Dawn was right that this was better than the life she had been living, from her perspective. I'd never had a problem with drugs, but my cousin Hadley did. I'm sure vampires didn't like drinking anything other than pure blood, so drug use here would probably be out of the question. A place like this might have helped Hadley before she ran off and probably overdosed.

Janice let me think silently for a moment before patting my hand and getting up. She walked over to the dresses and accessories to tidy a few things before she left.

When the door closed, I laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

If Godric wasn't going to let me go, we were going to have to establish some ground rules about what he could and couldn't control about my life. I wasn't sure how, but I was going to find a job here so I could earn something on my own. Not just with my telepathy. Next, I wasn't going to stay rolled up in bubble wrap if I was living here. I needed a life too.

It scared the crap out of me when a mechanical whirring sound jerked through the air and I saw coverings slide their way over the windows. It wasn't quite close to sunset, but getting there. I was still sitting on the bed when he arrived.

And oh did he ever arrive. One second I was stewing about my situation and the next he was kissing me and running his fingers through my hair. A single hand reached down under my pink dress and gently cupped me… _there_. It exacerbated the already hot and humid sensations I'd been experiencing regarding him.

"Godric... Godric!" He stopped and looked at me, and I couldn't see any color in his eyes besides black.

"Sookie. I've been craving you." It was not at all romantic in tone. It was hungry.

"That's great Godric! Just dandy! But you kept me in here all day! All day with minimal contact. You can't do that." His eyes started to clear up and he stood up and away from me in human speed.

"For your safety."

"Oh and the clothes and whatever else? For my safety?"

"You wish to go naked amongst our kind?" He smiled. Asshole.

"If it takes that threat to let you let me buy my own clothes, then yeah." I huffed, crossing my arms defensively. Still not my king.

"Mm, and what money would you have for that?" His voice was playful, and it made me certain he enjoyed getting my goat.

"I have a savings account."

"Your dead-to-the world self does. But do you?" It was difficult to not return his intense and charismatic smile, even though I was p'oed.

"Maybe I should be taken back. It's only been a couple of days."

"No. This was discussed." Something like fear flickered across his features. He took what looked like an involuntary step forward, as if he was about to jump on me like a grenade.

 _He may very well have to if he wants to avoid a classic Stackhouse tongue-lashing._

"Yeah, and I get it. But I can't just allow myself to forget and to suddenly be dependent on you for everything. I can take care of myself."

"Unfortunately that is no longer true. To vampires, possession is 9/10ths of the law and the other fraction is whether another can get away with stealing another vampire's human. The others would kill you quickly, since you are the most delicious thing I have tasted… everywhere." He dropped his fangs and licked his lips lasciviously.

"You have no money and you do not require anything. You only require me." He continued. I was about to blow a freakin' gasket. Maybe it had already blown and I was melting brain cells from all the steam going through my head.

"You raging dick! I don't belong to you! Or anyone! And I can take care of my own damn self. You let me out!" I smacked him right in the kisser and he snatched my hand as I pulled it back. He was laughing now, which looked funny to me since his fangs were jutting out of his mouth.

"Please, calm yourself." I felt better with him saying it. Like I was being wrapped in a warm blanket.

"I'm not _yours_. You still can't keep me in here all day…" I said breathlessly as he pulled me close to him, taking the arm he had in his grip and wrapping it around him. It was easy to get lost in his eyes, looking up at him while I was held tight.

"Let us… discuss this." He sounded strangled as he said it. He probably didn't want to do any discussing.

"Ok, yes. We're going to sit down and talk about this like adults. At the table, now." My tone brooked no argument. I was still in his arms but I looked over to where I wanted us to have this conversation. Mainly, not on the bed, not in his arms, not standing in the middle of the room staring into each other's eyes like two loons.

"We are lovers. Need we talk with a table between us?" He caressed me, and my entire body rippled from his touch. Not my king, but he is my boyfriend.

"Godric, I can't concentrate when you hold me like this." He had already pushed his face in my hair again and was slowly moving his mouth down to my neck with soft kisses between strands of hair.

"Godric please?" I whispered desperately.

"As you wish Ms. Stackhouse." He disengaged as if he had never been ensconced in my body and led me over to a chair, much like he had taken me out of his vampire court to dinner last night.

"Let's get some things straight. I need a job here, something to contribute. Gran and I never had much, and I've learned to appreciate good fortune when I get it. But I'm not a woman to be spoiled and forget where she came from. Got it?" I was a Southern Belle. We were made of steel, quiet beauty, hospitality and shotguns.

"It was decided you would use your ability to check my staff. I see this as more than a simple job or contribution." His eyes were narrowed in frustration. My telepathy wasn't a damn skill. I'd agreed to read the staff, but that is nothing. Vampires can clearly take care of their own since they haven't been discovered yet.

"It's a disability, and my use of it is at best a hobby. I know I agreed to do it but it's not worth paying me for, in retrospect of our conversation. You guys have glamor, so what's the point?" Godric sighed.

"We are vampires. I told you we are violent and bloodthirsty creatures. Our culture is similar to our nature. I am the king of Louisiana, and there are monarchs for each state. We are constantly spying on one another with humans and vampires in order to maintain power. Out of the two hundred and twenty four persons and vampires here, seventy are spies of some variety, and that is the number of spies we know about." My eyes widened and I felt my jaw drop a little. I must have looked quite dumb, and I snapped my lips shut.

He continued, "you may wonder why we don't remove them if we know. First, their handlers would only send more. Which means we tend to want to work with known quantities. Sadly, many of these spies perform better at their tasks than our own workers do because they have more at stake should they be discovered. Good help is hard to find."

"Ok, but that doesn't answer why you can't glamor them to not tell any important information to their respective… spy handlers." This whole thing sounded like an annoyance. It didn't make sense that they couldn't defend themselves from it in some way.

"Ah, yes. That. We've had several thousand years to perfect the art of glamor. All spies are glamoured carefully. If anyone touches the glamour placed on a spy, there is a secondary glamour to both wipe the subject's mind and typically to make them insane so as to not be usable. Having to kill a human is an inconvenience. It is not worth it to attempt to subvert another vampire's glamour at the expense of an otherwise good servant. At times, there is even a third command to attack the vampire who is unglamoring them. Though we always restrained those we attempt to unglamour, now. It is all too much for us to successfully manage a revolving door of humans. Further, glamor doesn't leave a mark as to who completed it, what it was for and how extensive it is. As you've recognized, there are plenty of cases where we would use glamor on donors and employees. Which makes it difficult to know if it is our glamour or our enemy's. But, as long as we have kept our higher ranks free of spies, I have been satisfied. You will change this. Does this answer your question?"

"Yes. I guess you really could use someone like me." That was crazy. It made a lot of sense in a twisted way. I never imagined that vampires could be so machiavellian, but I should have.

"You will keep the clothes that are here then. Return anything you do not like. Since I think you would prefer to have an accounting and evidence of your earnings, I will tabulate the cost of the items you keep and I will give you an interest free loan that you can pay back when you receive your first payment. Yes?" How did the man know me so well as to not thrust his generosity onto me? An interest free loan was generous, but not unreasonable given his need for my telepathy. I could live with this.

"I appreciate that. Your acknowledgement that I am not to be dependent on you is important to me."

"This is true, in some ways. We will go over any dependencies shortly. And Sookie, you must never disclose that you can do this. Do not speak of it to any other vampire besides myself and Eric."

"Eric? Why? He's such a prick!" I was outraged about him telling Eric.

"Ah, but he is my child and as his maker I can command him to say nothing. As I already have." Int-er-est-ing, and what a relief.

The fear of being found out by other vampires started settling in. That's what Godric was referencing as my 'dependency'. My telepathy was a prize to vampires. If anyone knew, I'd be hunted down and killed, or stolen. If what Godric was saying about spies is true, even if I neutrally helped out every monarch, someone would come to the conclusion that it is easier to go back to the old ways vs never having spies in anyone's court, ever.

Godric was telling me that he wouldn't be alone in someone knowing about my gift, but I would still be safe. Even if it was Eric the meanie who knew.

"Oh I bet he just loved that. If we're together I don't have to adopt him and be his step mother do I?" Godric laughed heartily and leaned forward on the table to smirk immodestly at me.

"The relationship between maker and child, though imbalanced in power, is one that transcends human limitations on relationships. But if I could translate it… If you were mine, you might call him brother which would make me your-"

"You save that sort of thing for after our talk you naughty vampire. I ought to smack you again." I sternly scolded him. There was no way I was calling him daddy anyway!

"If you're going to discipline me after for my impudence, let me get on my knees in front of you and show you how penitent I am." He oh-so-carefully licked his bottom lip.

"I mean it Godric!" I blushed at the thought.

"So do I."

"Ok, no discipline! Moving on you incorrigible man. I get you're concerned for my safety and I can see why. So besides this being secret, what are we going to do keep me safe and my secret under wraps?" I was still wrapping my head around the idea that I was going to use my disability for something useful. The numbers Godric told me for how many spies they had were absurd! We should clean house ASAP. As soon as Godric had a plan for how we should go about this.

"Ah. Yes. Given what I know about you thus far my darling, you will not like the wording of this. But, I must declare you as mine. My companion, my human, my everything." He purred the last words and his eyes became hazy again. It wasn't human romance, that's for sure, but there was something sweet about his intensity. And something angry and human in me rising to meet and fight against his vampire nature. I suppressed the latter, clinging to this pulsing and timorous feeling of affection towards his offer of protection.

"You're right. I do not like the sound of that. I guess I recognize that it's necessary. It won't affect the way you treat me in private?"

"I respect you. But what happens in our bedroom… I can't promise I won't make good on my claim." _Our_ bedroom, eh? I blushed and I watched his nostrils flare slightly. One of his hands twitched on the table. The idea of a powerful creature such as Godric struggling with his self control was feeding my ego a little too much.

"Ok, so what does it entail being yours?" I put my elbow on the table and propped up my chin with my hand. My devilish smile's effects weren't lost on me. He spoke quickly, searching for the end of our discussion.

"You and your blood are off limits to anyone but myself. Other vampires will treat you as if you are not there, as many of them only see humans as food, and in your case you won't even be that. But they won't harm you. This will be true for the donors, as well. Debbie was an accident I would not see repeated. You reading the staff will be a large part of this. Do not hesitate to remove anyone who wishes you harm, because they are in turn wishing me harm."

"I appreciate you keeping me away from all the others. You're not like them, even if you say you are." He frowned a little but kept quiet.

"So what happened to Debbie?"

"She is no more."

"You killed her?"

"Yes."

"You didn't have to." I'd never known anyone in my life that died. Even though she was awful, it would be eerie to walk around and not see her, to know that she was buried in the ground somewhere. It further served to remind me that this world wasn't mine, and it was an exceedingly dangerous one.

 _I think I have lucked out big-time with Godric being my protector._

"This is not the first time she has caused a problem. She is a Were, but no pack here wanted her. There was nowhere else she could go. It was a mercy." I assumed a pack was a group of Werewolves that stuck together. As terrible as she was, I couldn't imagine what her life was like without any friends from her own kind. She must have done some bad things before to deserve that. Still.

"But she could have been glamoured to be better…" I suggested.

"Vampires cannot change the underlying personality of a person. We can make the best side of them show, but if there is no best side there is nothing we can do. It was tried on her Sookie." Poor Debbie. Most people were good, but there were a few bad eggs out there I'd had the misfortune of listening in on. Some people were irredeemable, though I'd not admitted that to myself before today.

"I don't like it. But I accept it. Can you include me on this sort of decision though? If it pertains to me?"

"Yes. But I do not see it happening again if you read the staff." Fair.

"As long as you loop me in. Now on to my living situation. Am I staying here then?"

"Yes. If you like. I would very much like you to stay here Sookie." Mr. Twitchy was at it again. Who knew someone as old as dirt could be so squirmy and impatient? It was cute. I bet he wouldn't like to be called cute though. Maybe I'd tell him anyway.

He smirked at me out of nowhere, and I almost squeaked when I remembered he could feel my emotions. Including my affection for him.

 _Evasive maneuvers!_

"Ok, but I can't be kept in here all day and away from others! It's awful and lonely." I summoned my previous irritation as a shield against my feelings for Godric.

"After I claim you and you are able to clear the staff, interacting with others will be no issue."

"Let's plan for today then! I can't spend another day in here alone."

"I will arrange it. There is court in two hours and I would like to spend one hour before … not talking." He leaned back, spreading his legs wider and relaxing his arms on the sides of the chair. It was the international sign for 'come get some', and I was going to pretend that it didn't translate.

 _He just wants you to get into bed. So don't acknowledge the bed. That simple._

"And the other hour?"

"You trying on dresses for me, picking one and then readying yourself for tonight." Super blush! I imagined him sitting on the bed with his beautiful eyes raking my frame. Being self conscious wasn't coming up at the moment. My body was a bit bigger yes, but I was happy with my curves and it seemed that so was he.

"You're being really accommodating for someone who says they're so… cruel." I teased.

"Ah, but I won't let you leave here, will I? So I am not all good." I wished that his words would put a cork in my libido, but being resigned to my situation all I wanted was his comfort. And there he was again saying he was not good.

 _You are a bad boy. The kind my Gran pestered me about half-heartedly. Gran had a soft spot for bad-boys. Otherwise she would have whooped the sluttiness out of Jason long ago._

"As I've said before. I get it. I get why you can't. I don't like it, but this is life now."

"Mm. Is there more Sookie or may I whisk you off to bed?" He stood quickly and gazed down at me intently.

"Who said I'm going to bed with you?" I teased.

"Oh? So I do not smell the wetness between your legs, or hear the racing of your heart? And maybe, I cannot see the blood rise to your cheeks while I say these things." He tapped a finger on the table and started walking around it towards me, dragging the tip across the hard surface.

 _Talented fingers. Talented, skillful, downright criminal fingers._

"Hey! Maybe you can do all those things, but a lady deserves some privacy regarding her feelings!"

"We are in our room. This is private." He stood before me, not taking his finger off the table. I stared at it now, wondering where it was going. Wondering if it might come for me next. Probably. Hopefully.

"Oh you know what I mean you high-handed vampire." I muttered, embarrassed.

"Maybe you do. Maybe you don't." He pulled his hand off the table, laying it at his side and proceeded to rub his fore and middle finger together over his thumb. Like he was rolling... a nipple.

 _Hold out for a little bit longer. You can do this. Team Sookie!_

I put my hands over my eyes to stop looking at his damn hand and then peeked out between my fingers to ask something about Eric.

"Ahh! Ok, lastly, Eric isn't going to be a meanie is he?"

"No. I have dealt with him. He is commanded to be accommodating to you, even if he does not like it." Godric abruptly walked away from me and stood facing the opposite wall. My heart felt tugged, as did the taught string of feeling that began at my heart and led down to my core. I didn't want him to turn away.

"I don't understand why he dislikes me so." I felt small. I didn't know the relationship between a maker and child, but I gathered from Godric's limited description that it was intimate. I was feeling bad again. Self conscious, unwanted.

"He is jealous." Godric turned around and offered me a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, well it seems hell hath no fury like a viking scorned, because he crazy-hates me." I looked down at the floor, sad that I was the reason Godric and his child weren't getting along.

"Eric feels deeply, but he does not hate you. He loves me, and before you I was not in a good place. But you are here, and I have renewed purpose. It was something he hoped to give me through his love. Eventually he will settle and see your value. I imagine his next tactic will be to try and get into your good graces. Even if his actions are false, his heart will follow along when he sees you for who you are, not what you represent to his vampire sensibilities." He answered my unasked question about his place and mine in all this. I felt some relief.

"Right. Keep on the lookout for advancing vikings." I looked up at him as we both smiled.

"Now, before we move onto _better_ things," he drew the word better out and looked at me sensuously as he did so, "I must be honest with you."

"Yes?" Those didn't sound like good words, even if they were wrapped up in sex. Was he about to tell me he had some kind of vampire STI or maybe that he was into some strange kinky thing I'd never want to do?

"I am manipulative. It is in my nature to coerce with words the cooperation of both vampires and humans. I have been doing this for a long time and it is second nature. And I fear that no matter my efforts to keep this part of me out of our relationship, it will eventually come up." That was not what I expected to hear from him.

"You're no more or less manipulative than the average person, as far as I can see."

"Ah, but I've had 2,000 years of practice." Woo boy he was old!

"The minute you do something to break my trust, then I'll be upset with you regarding any manipulation. But until that time, if it ever comes, you're good in my book."

"You trust me, even though I don't deserve it. There will be things I cannot tell you. Will not tell you." I was lifted from my chair and placed on the bed, Godric kneeling behind me, unzipping my dress.

"As long as it's for my safety." He growled into my hair, where he found himself once again buried in. I sighed with happiness.

"Conversation over?" He asked, his voice low.

I turned my head and looked behind me to see his face hovering there waiting for mine. "For now."


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks Suzy for the beta'ing!

The reviews have been great guys! I really appreciate them.

***Eric***

"You have one minute."

"I'm looking for a human woman, her name is Sookie Stackhouse. I sent her to Shreveport to pick up some liquor for my bar in Bon Temp and she hasn't returned. I'm willing to pay to have her location tracked."

"We have more than enough money shifter. What else can you offer?" Merlotte paused before a resigned expression came over his face.

"I can skin-walk." Very dangerous. There were so few true shifters, many of them having been rooted out long ago for this particular ability.

"Prove it." Skin-walking entailed taking the form of another human instead of the typical animals a shifter could easily change into.

"It costs me a great deal of energy to do it. If I stay in another's form for longer than an hour I can easily die." Godric had schooled me on a great many supernaturals, and this was a piece of information I already knew.

"I'm asking for a demonstration Sam Merlotte."

"Fine." The shifter stood up and carefully undressed, laying his clothes on the chair he had been sitting in. I watched as his skin warped and changed and before me stood… me. I did not realize how strongly I doubted him until I saw my eyes looking back at me.

"Fascinating." When the shifter turned back to his regular form, he gripped the chair while he coughed and panted. I wasn't sure how useful his skill could be with its restrictions, but it was worth having. Too bad we wouldn't be able to easily utilize it.

"You'll find her then?" His voice was hoarse and his eyes searched mine for confirmation.

"We already have." My smirk was an ingrained response. Like I gave a fuck what the shifter wanted. If I could have given the fairy to him, I would have gladly dumped her in his lap.

"You let her go! There are enough humans in this area willing to do your bidding. Sookie is innocent-" The dog clearly had a hard on for the hybrid. It disgusted me to put him in the same category as my maker in any way.

"She's also Godric's. They're in his room right now." I watched as the shifter's face transformed into terror with a hint of jealousy.

"We are done here." I rose and made to leave.

"Please! Please, is he hurting her? Don't let him harm her. She's better than the rest of the women you take." He whined.

"She is safe, and in danger. But nothing that is done or said will change that now." My voice was harsh and I chastised myself for hearing my feelings so obviously accenting my words.

"I don't understand-"

"She's with the king, you animal. Think about it. Rasul will see you out." I left quickly, making my way towards a certain Ukrainian woman who needed to die while reading through what Godric had sent me in regards to this evening.

The shifter would be back, no doubt. And if necessary, I would end him too.

***Godric***

After I had texted Eric about the events of this evening, I went to visit Sookie in my room. She smelled sweeter to me when I entered and combined with the underlying scent of my blood in her body, talking was the least desireable activity. I knew she was angry instantaneously, the flowery notes of her scent having shifted to caramelized sugar. The flush of her cheeks while I held her close and the spasms of vexation that tried to remain consistent in her blood told me something had bothered her, but our relationship itself did not encompass that irritation.

Our conversation was somewhat uncomfortable, but needed. I soon found out how upset she had been that I had not allowed her to leave. My patience in the matter came with ease. The dangers outside of this room in the form of other donors, Weres and even vampires who would catch the scent of her in the halls was not a threat she had been made aware.

As I had taught Eric, humans did not prefer to be looked upon as objects. At the same time, I instinctively knew that telling Sookie all of what she must know would be a careful balancing act. I needed to be honest, but remember how much she was capable of putting to memory while mitigating any outbursts of hers. So I started with simpler rules. Such as her not leaving the room for the day, and did not delve into the intricacies of claiming her, the political climate that surrounded me, the nature of supes, rituals, rules, laws, human rights, etc. Items that were on a need-to-know basis.

Thus, her anger about being locked in my room was a passing thing. The only part I had miscalculated was that humans needed companionship. Vampires were not this way and if I had been in such a position as she I would have gone into downtime. But Sookie… The pain of her smallest hurt was not sharp, but it was punctuated by the reality that when a creature's life was so short, these moments were truly more potent than a vampire would understand. We had forever, and they had less than a century.

I had thought the books and the clothing would be sufficient, but even the clothes were a point of contention between us. Granted, it was resolved to her satisfaction that she earn her place here. While I had lived as a human in a time and place where everyone must work to survive, or die, when she told me her need I did recognize the value of needing to be useful in a world filled with freedoms. Especially because life now was often easy and luxuries unearned. It reflected itself well in the newest vampires to be changed, who thought themselves invincible, not having to remember the days of burying oneself in the ground or never staying too long in one location.

My recognition of what a human's life was like only came about because of her. Because she was now ensconced in what little heart I had left. She had me assessing what I was and what I was made of. A vampire, a maker, a king. And the things that were me outside of my roles? I had lost those. Perhaps they had gone out with my humanity. A vampire's memory was perfect regarding the relaying of facts and emotions present at the time, but we could not replay the memories and feel them with the self we were now. We could only reassess them with all of our character defects and foibles intact and thus obscuring what might be true. Sookie's entrance into my life was a painful reclaiming of my past and a reminder that what I had seen and done may be factual, but it might not necessarily be the truth of who I was. Her presence extended me an invitation to truly look at myself once more. To come to terms with and then set aside my former selves, leaving the reasons those selves came to be behind me.

Nonetheless, the vampire known as 'death' was lurking within me now. This identity, this version of me, had come to the surface along with everything else. This part of me had killed Debbie and taunted Eric. I had expected more resistance and then subsequent repentance from myself regarding my latest had awoken that painful, bitter part of my life before Eric, the one before I was known as death. And then she soothed it, allowing 'death' to become my tool, and not my person. Or so I hoped. I certainly did not think 'death' would have cared about defending a mate, much less keep one.

Yes, Sookie did make me feel. I wanted to blame the blood, her species, but I could not. I felt a kinship to her. I have always admired a survivor, and when she told me how she suffered at the hands of others and prevailed, I had contemplated her person and found that we were alike. We had survived. I too, had suffered at the hands of one who should have taken care of me. My maker, the vampire I had run from even after I had killed him. He had advertently fractured my ability to trust. Even when I had rebuilt my broken self and had never once passed on the behavior of my maker to my son, 'death' still lived in a part of me that demanded I control my environment and those who surrounded me. Lest I be abandoned by them before I did the leaving or killing. My maker had been the precursor, the progenitor to 'death'. A parting gift to me that kept giving.

Tragedy was all the same. Though she was never physically harmed that I knew of, psychological torture had always been a better way of breaking others. It was a testament to my maker's lack of understanding of this that kept me sane for so long. If he had attacked me that way… I would not have survived as Sookie had.

Though she had made it through the constant barrage of abhorrence from others for her abilities, she was still liable to uncontrolled outbursts. I was a vampire, and it had taken me several centuries to find a self that wasn't defined by such eruptions. Which were, by and large, more violent than hers. She, up until a few days ago, had still been enduring her torture.

But, perhaps the current strength of her emotions was due to grief at being away from home. This was something I would have to think carefully on. While she was not leaving my compound until the great reveal, it would be prudent to ensure her family was right where she left them when she did visit. And it would be a visit.

After our talk, the only thing left to explain to her would be her expected behavior in court. While the finer details were myriad and complex, all she would need today is to shelve her pride and sit at my feet.

But for now, my most important task at hand was to rid her of clothing and ultimately her modesty. Asking for permission was not in my nature, but neither was lacking consent. It was not about taking Sookie down by arranging circumstances so that she succumbed to her own lust. What I needed was submission and acceptance. Vulnerability. I assumed she would wish for something similar, and I shuddered at my need to do this and to not do this with her. I would not be able to submit, but I would be able to accept my feelings and possibly bare myself to her. There was too much in me that refused to bend.

I had been lucky to find her now, after Eric. He had been the turning point and I considered that my child had helped to hew away the most broken of parts in me. He had bathed me, held me and washed away all sins committed on my body with his love making. Sookie was the finishing touch, her light seeking and destroying what was left of the darkness.

With the conversation and my mental gymnastics over, I smiled and let my lips meet hers. We were on the bed now, where I'd longed to be since I entered the room. I had kneeled behind her while she sat between my legs, fingering the edge of where her dress' fabric met her neck. The zipper gave way, the end of its trail resting over the lace of her panties.

The kiss was an intended distraction, her head drawn back towards me in repose. After many years, multi-tasking was second nature. I thought about the future. Before when I had been planning to see the sun one final time, I was now thinking I would be interested in seeing what the sun was like without the true death. Fairies were, in their own way, a light. It was a conceit I was willing to indulge. For once in a great long time.

As I began to draw my fairy's mouth into mine, my hand traced a somewhat sharp nail down her spine. I waited for the earthquake of her telltale shudder. This was what I wanted to hear.

Humans were loud by their very definition. Guts churning, mouths watering, bodies aerating, twitches vibrating through the air. I relished every shake and quake of her body as I herded her lust towards me by allowing a single finger to trail up her leg and then find its way to her panties. I used said digit to gently caress up and down the center of her contained lips, tortuously slow. She was tucked into my chest, my arms confining her as they reached around her torso to continue my ministrations.

Her moans started quickly and became closer together as I methodically tormented her with unfulfilled need. I wanted to eat every single one of those moans slipping out of her mouth. I enveloped them with my lips, enjoying the muffled sounds.

Not wanting to overindulge on her cries just yet, I pulled up and listened to the sound of her inhalation. I was envious of the air as it poured into her, and I growled. If it were possible, I would be the air that she breathed, the food that she ate and the clothes that she wore.

Today, the method to my madness was to tease.

"Say it." I said. My fingers were feather light over the top of her chest and legs, my stroking of her still agonizingly slow. The threat was implicit; ask or suffer without fulfillment this night. As gluttonous as I was this evening, my patience was a reliable... virtue.

"What do I say?" She mewled and twisted herself both away and towards me needily, wanting for more touch.

In the space of time it took to speak, I tore her dress and bra open at the front and ripped her underwear off of her body. Yanking her legs wide, she did not close them. If she did, I would reopen them.

It was impossible to not growl at the sight of her before me. She was pink on all of the relevant parts and they all needed attention to turn their rosy hue to a darker shade from licking and sucking.

I pressed a single hand pressed flat to her chest, locking her to me. The other glided through the air over her stomach, mound and down her thighs. Not once did I let my skin grace hers.

"Godric!" Her head fell back and her thighs began to close. I let go of her chest and gently but firmly spread her legs open again, holding my hands there as a reprimand. A modicum of my control slipped and I found my hands massaging her wantingly.

"Mind your manners, Ms. Stackhouse. Now say it." I hissed into her ear. She whimpered so sweetly and halfheartedly pushed her legs forward in protest.

"Please Godric." Her breasts were mesmerizing now, their rise and fall a rushing tide. Large, and full. Repurposed from feeding children to feed me.

"Please what?" I let go of her thighs now and snagged her jaw carefully and caressed her lips with a finger. The other hand hovered just in front of her leg's vertex.

"Touch me, please."

"Good girl." She keened when I slid a finger into her. The volume rose into fractured cries, her voice breaking each time I thrust.

Before, I had kept my hips from pressing against her, conscious that she likely had never participated in any kind of sexual circumstance. My lack of initial pursuit was not to prevent scaring her away, only to give her time to enjoy and discover for herself these sensations before she participated in mine. And now it was my time to gently make her aware of my needs.

Whether they were fulfilled tonight was not the point. I was certain she would give; it was written in her being, like Eric's, to do so. Being with her reminded me strongly of Eric and his need, and I felt further aroused at the thought of my beautiful child beneath me. It was frustrating that Eric was not particularly close to mainstreaming and that his tastes were trending towards women who added no intellectual or emotional value to his life. Granted, I had taught him to avoid that kind of connection. I knew Sookie was his type physically and that she would pose a challenge for Eric to get to know. As long as they began to understand each other from a distance, I would not feel so inclined to stake my son. There was the sting of guilt, thinking of Eric while I was with Sookie, but it passed when I reminded myself of my commitment to be faithful to her.

Her gasp at the hardness now nestled in the indentation of her spine wrenched a smile from me. A smile. The simplest expression of joy and happiness. Such a countenance amongst vampires was intended to signal supremacy. And here, the veil was stripped away to show how she was burrowing into me, as surely as I pumped a single digit into her.

Rubbing myself against her, she surprised me by pressing herself back against it. Her will to provide was more innate than I gave her credit for. It warmed me such that I wished to push our boundaries.

I flipped her, pressing her to her hands and knees, chest flush with the bed with myself behind her. Before she protested in any way, I pressed a finger from my other hand in while I took my wet forefinger and softly pinched a single nipple. My thrusts kept pace, mimicking as closely as possible the rhythm of having me inside her.

Her first orgasm took her within thirty seconds and I pulled my hand away from her breast long enough to wrap my arm around her waist as she bucked backwards and up. This was necessary, as I began to work her harder than before, adding a second finger to the frenzy I had induced. Clenching and unclenching, the texture of her wetness became slicker, slightly less viscous.

Throwing her on her back now, I withdrew my fingers and shoved my tongue between her folds. I then worked to drain her of cum, my face so deeply entrenched that her wetness was thick on my chin and outside my lips. There would be no victory since she would never run dry. But as the humans say, it's the journey, not the destination.

After stealing a second orgasm from her, I rose and sat back on my calves and inspected my handiwork, swiping the leavings of her juices off my face and into my mouth. Sookie's hair was a blonde mess, her torso expanding and deflating rhythmically. Arms spread wide in languid bliss, trembling legs securing the pink swelling of her nether region, wet from my tongue and clean of everything else.

"Godric?" Her head lifted and her blue eyes looked at me inquiringly.

"Sookie."

"Do you need… Are you hungry?"

"Yes." The vampire rushed out from where he had hidden and made a grab for control. I snatched the beast as it made to drop fang and strike, and buried it instead within my sexual needs.

I pulled her legs up around me and dragged her closer from across the bed. Leaning my now kneeling body into the curve of her knee, I pressed my length there and moved her leg back and forth over the cloth covering my hardened member.

"Yes I am hungry. For many things." She sat up and I felt concern, determination and the sensation of bravely having come to a decision flowing from her.

"Off with those!" She pulled herself to her hands and knees and crawled up towards me. When she dug her hands into the top of my pants and started pulling, I undid the tie for her and let them slide down, leaving her face to face with my cock. Her surprise swelled and then ran headlong into heady lust.

"Our hour is almost up Sookie. Do you have any goals you'd like to accomplish in the next twenty minutes?" She looked up at me, asking permission. I placed my hand on the back of her head and stroked her hair gently. Deciding to add my other hand, I slid them down to smooth out her hair and gently rub her neck. Relaxation and warm tenderness filtered into my blood. She groaned even as she swiped the precum off of me with her tongue.

I squeezed her lightly in encouragement, enjoying the flicker of apprehensiveness as her mouth closed around my length. Keeping herself latched to me, she rearranged her body as she felt comfortable. Her hair draped down and I gathered it up, holding it to the nape of her neck as she cautiously moved her mouth forward and back.

I could feel her relish every sound I made. It was so very easy to reward her as I purred and growled my gratification. She felt happy, excited and caring. Her bliss expanding as she realized how much she liked doing this for me, for us.

Gently, I pulled her off of me with a pop and moved her up to meet my lips. They were swollen and red from use and I licked some of the mingled scent of both of us off of her before leading her back down. It tasted transcendent.

Before finding her path to me once again, she spoke.

"Godric, don't you want to eat? To drink?"

"I do." I took her chin in one hand and guided her forward. She moaned and resumed her sucking and twirling of her tongue.

It had been… years. I could not recall the last time I had cum. If it had been centuries I would not be surprised.

I was close now, and it felt like a hallucination. Almost like pure fairy blood taking over my faculties. Before I let go, I pulled her mouth off and barely noted her panting and pulling away from my grip to reattach herself to me.

Placing her on her back, I let my length rest against her core and found it saturated, as if I had never had my mouth there at all. Hissing, I gazed down at Sookie's face and failed to refrain from letting my fangs snap into place. Uninhibited by any fear, she reached up and hesitantly stroked one. I writhed and I knew she felt me press against her all the harder.

"Eat?" She whispered and tilted her chin up and towards the pillow. It made me feel a monster to want to bite then. I had explained nothing to her of a vampire feeding, assuming she would refuse for some time. But here, she was asking me to partake and once again my control slipped further and I sank into her jugular with abandon.

She came hard and I felt a gush of more cum on the underside of my cock that brought about my own coming. Cool wetness pooled on my stomach and hers, seeping out towards the edges of our skin. I had unlatched quickly, taking two full draws of her, in time to watch the aftershocks of her orgasm on her face.

When I lifted off, her hazy eyes met mine and she reached up to pull me back down to her mouth. Quickly she intertwined herself with me, and we found ourselves lazily kissing and licking one another's lips.

"Wow." Sookie pulled away and looked at me, a blissful smile on her face.

"And you didn't even say my name." I teased. She blushed and I could not help but kiss each of her reddening cheeks.

"That was something else." She followed up with, still rosy.

"That it was. We have an hour to be ready and I'd like to _personally_ ensure you are clean and prepared for this evening." The thought of bathing her made my groin pulse. Apparently she felt it too as her mouth turned into an 'o'.

Lifting off of her, I vamped to the bathroom and back with a towel to dry her well-moisturized pelvic area.

"Thank you Godric. Now what's this about getting clean?" She sat up and tried to put her hair into some kind of order.

***Sookie***

Godric soothingly bathed me, ensuring my hair wasn't subject to the suds of the bath. His hands were everywhere and if I wasn't relaxed after the amazing orgasms he had given me, now I was truly a puddle of happiness.

I'd protested at first, but he made a point that we did not want to be late for court. He spoke to me softly, telling me what would be expected while in turn emphasizing that these were not his personal choices. I'd wanted to snip and attack when he told me I would be sitting at his feet on a cushion unless he placed me in his lap and that he would not speak a word to me unless he had to discipline me.

That last part had me furious, but he carefully talked me down when I made to interrupt him.

Vampires were possessive and often violent. If I was not 'his', then I was free for the taking. He did not hide the reality that I would be raped and possibly drained. If I were disobedient, it would encourage other supernatural creatures to approach me for sex or blood, even if it was technically against the rules. Godric didn't say this in such a way as to make it seem like he wanted me to be grateful for his protection. On the contrary, it felt like Godric relayed facts, not personal opinions on the matter.

He was a driving, commanding lover that had relieved me of the embarrassment of being new to sex. Godric knew exactly what to do and what he wanted from me, and it was good. How he was aware of every single button to hit on my body was a testament to his long life. Several times as he swept a wash cloth over me, I felt more lust work its way through. Maybe I was imagining things, but I felt as though he lingered over my breasts in his cleaning.

I should have felt guilty that only two nights of intimacy with the vampire holding me captive should be sufficient to propel me into accepting this life. We're dealt the hand we're dealt though, and while it wasn't what I wanted, it wasn't bad. It could be good, even.

This night with Godric, which wasn't even over, had settled me into that fact. Godric had listened to me, talked with me, had told me honestly of the ugly realities of his world, recognized my needs and made strides to fulfill them. He didn't try to smother my sadness and he acknowledged my opinions. In a way, we were both prisoners of this life now. And then he shared himself with me, his handsome and sculpted body kneeling in front of me like a buffet. I almost asked him to take my virginity right there and the only thing that truly stopped me was how much he was packing. Could I fit that in me? I certainly fit part of it in my mouth, and I blushed at the thought.

As Godric continued to bathe me, I listened to more of his explanations about my being claimed by him. Apparently every supernatural would be able to smell his cum and blood on me and in me. That they could also smell when I was aroused or afraid. And that his scent on me would protect me from any vampire. It was all very primal and invasive.

My mind circled back to thoughts of us in his bed. My dress ripping, undergarments shredded away. I scavenged every memory and held it to the light, remembering its beauty. He had made me orgasm and I had fed him, and it was profoundly intimate. My first thought when I offered had been that it only seemed right since I had taken a lot of his blood the other night. But when I asked him if he was hungry, I realized I was hungry for him too.

It was beyond reciprocation that I wanted him to drink from me. Having seen something of the man behind his kingly mask, I knew he was good and that I was special to him besides being useful or tasty. That was why I had agreed to be with him in the first place. It just made _sense_ that I would be the one to provide him with sustenance. I didn't count on how much I would enjoy it.

No, I wasn't happy that I would have to sit at his feet while a bunch of other vampires ogled me, but Godric had appearances to keep. No one in my life had ever held a position that required such a dichotomized existence. But a CEO in my world would be expected to live as such, so his behavior wasn't unrealistic.

Bath finished, he toweled me off at warp speed. Standing in front of the mirror, I put my hand up to the two pin pricks on my neck. Noticing my attention to the area, Godric said that it was best that I keep those for now, to further cement his claim on me. Though if I wished them to be healed, he would. The look of nervousness that crossed his face told me I should keep them, and I did.

"Oh Godric these are beautiful! And they each have matching jewelry? It's really too much. I already have a closet and…" There were two dresses that Godric had pulled out of nowhere, both long and elegant, one an emerald green and the other a sheer sky blue. Both had matching jewelry that looked real.

"Sookie, these outfits are a cost I must bear. Consider them costumes, and that you are an actor in a play I have commissioned. Tonight you will look and act the part I have outlined to you. While I would love to lavish many presents upon you, that is not what these represent tonight."

"You're sure I have to wear something so nice? These aren't something I'd be able to afford with even five years of work at my normal wages!"

"As I said, they are costumes. Your appearance is a reflection on me. The more expensive the items on you, the more it will show that I value you which will protect you even further in my court."

"If you say so…"

"I do." He pulled the towel away from my body and I covered my lady bits reflexively.

"No. That will not do." Godric had thankfully dressed so I wasn't constantly dodging looking at his… Gracious plenty. Slowly he pulled one arm away from my chest as it was covering my nipples. Leaving my other in place over my hootchie, he leaned down and suckled one nipple first and then the other.

"Godric!" I squealed. This was much different from when he used his fingers to twirl them. It felt like he was pulling at my core through my chest, each quick suck causing my groin to throb in time with his tugging.

I felt the cool press of the granite sink on the edge of my ass, my other hand slipping away as Godric slid two fingers into me without preamble. In the process of moving me, he hadn't stopped with my breasts, working each one without rest. His free hand gave attention to the one that his mouth wasn't on as he switched back and forth.

Now having been used to having a finger in me at all, Godric changed his technique and started pressing his fingers up, brushing a strangely sensitive spot that made itself known with sharp, hot jolts running straight to my brain. His thumb moved to rub my clit, the gentle swirling spinning the rest of my mind into circles.

It was almost an out of body experience, there was so much happening in me that hadn't occurred before. So much to feel that I had no way to categorize. The warmth of an impending orgasm rose once more, almost painful in its expansion over my body. My insides roiled and I arched my back, head pushed backwards in that critical moment before I exploded.

"Scream for me." I did as he bade and it was astonishing how _good_ it felt to let go of keeping quiet. It made everything better and I swore I'd never be quiet again if I didn't have to. I could hear the sound of my panting and registered slightly Godric's face in front of mine, smiling.

"We have fifteen minutes." I came back to earth and watched him suck noisily on the two fingers he had had inside of me. Four orgasms deep and I _still_ felt need for him as I watched him taste me.

"Blue dress." I whispered, carefully putting my feet on the ground and hoping my legs kept me steady. They did, barely. Godric was there immediately, helping me step into the dress.

"Good choice." He zipped it up, careful to lay my hair over my shoulder and not catch it along the way. The affection with which he dressed me caused a swell of happiness. Godric really was very sweet. It was in the way he paid attention to the details of my person. His every caress as he slowly put together the outfit I was to wear spoke of his care for me. My dress was smoothed out and he started brushing my hair, carefully working from the ends up to the top.

"I placed some shoes by the door. I will be back shortly to collect you and take you to court. Remember what we spoke of. Eyes averted to avoid catching anyone's glamour. That you cannot be glamoured is not a fact we want freely shared."

"Got it." I started to thank him, but he was gone. He'd be back in less than a few minutes so I scurried over to the makeup Janice had left, pulling out some mascara and clear lip gloss. Quickly applying that, I lifted up the skirt of my dress and jogged over to the shoes, determined to be ready by the time he got here.

 _Crap! Forgot my panties! How did that slip by me?_

Godric appeared all at once and stretched out his hand to take mine, saying nothing.

"I forgot my panties, wait one second while I get them on?"

"Not needed. We'll only be in court for an hour. After which you will go and change and we'll start your reading of the staff. I'll brief you on the arrangement after."

"But-"

"No one will see." He grinned, "besides, I want easier access when we're finished." Wicked vampire!


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks Suzy for the beta! Thank you Astradeni13 for the correct translation in greek for what I wanted to say in the story!

I very much appreciate the reviews guys. The sight of the notifications in my inbox makes me smile. :)

***Godric***

New eyes. Everything was objectively the same, but felt and looked different. The veil was lifted and my senses unkinked themselves, stretching and bending warily, seeking out danger like a bloodhound. No longer a distant hum in the background of my undead life, the thrumming of speech and movement pricked my ears like it might a newborn's. It was impossible to invalidate the effect Sookie had on me now. And keeping her meant protecting her. It meant summoning parts of myself that had not seen the night in centuries.

When the donors traipsed into the atrium they were elaborately coiffed and began cozying up to anything that had a fang to its name. It was something I'd never cared to observe so thoroughly until today. The clicks of their many high heels and shuffling of garments reminded me of how farmers would call their cows in from the fields to be milked. Never had the cows been so eager to lose both body and blood.

The sight at my feet was perfect but for the fact that it perched upon a cushion when it should have been on a pedestal. Her hair was loose, its golden waves having been carved with my own brushing. Even fresh from the bath, I could smell my seed on her. The resounding echo through my blood felt purposeful and right. Mine.

I watched as Eric surveyed the court and did not engage in our usual bantering. It was to be expected after all that had passed between us. Finding the balance between Sookie and Eric was a necessary endeavour. I looked at my child using my peripheral vision. His chiseled jaw was rigid and a tiny furrow made its home between his blond eyebrows. In the past I would have licked the indent that dared mar his face, using my tongue and fingers to tease the stress away from my Viking's body. Something within me still wanted this and it fought with my need for Sookie. This need hadn't been present before Sookie, my lustful desire for Eric having been dead or dormant for decades. Why was it returning now?

My child had made my rule possible for so long. His undying devotion to me unprecedented and unequaled in any other maker-child relationship. Without his presence and care, I would have deliberately slipped and allowed myself to be staked, sooner or later. A coward's choice, since my depression had been ongoing for centuries but only recently had I contemplated seeing the sun in its deathly glory.

"Eric." I whispered quietly, looking to avoid my other blonde companion's hearing. My child leaned down towards me, his golden locks covering the thin line of his lips.

"I am proud of you." Eric's happiness illuminated his features momentarily as he straightened himself. Settling back into his stoic mien, he looked considerably lighter in mood. This made me feel an intense shame that I had brought him so low to so easily bring him back up. Eric would always be the fierce and indomitable vampire I had made, but had I not closed the bonds I would be rolling in his accusatory submission.

"Thank you, master." I turned away from him and continued to survey the court. Sookie had stiffened, her eyes blinking rapidly at the group of humans and vampires before her. A multitude of emotions worked their way through her. Slowly her general countenance had turned from blissful to concerned, to irate and then simply sad and dejected. It was not hard to surmise that it was the thoughts of the donors that made my hybrid uncomfortable.

I waved the humans away then, not waiting until the last of them had come into the room. The donor's eyes were beady and the looks of the human females were that of harpies, the majority of them trained on Sookie as she looked stoically out into the crowd of humans, deliberately making eye contact with no one. The only giveaway to her discomfort was her blinking and unyielding frame.

To the vampires, nothing of her emotional state remained hidden. Every heartbeat, breath and swallow was cataloged by the mass of vampires present. Most would assume Sookie was frightened by being the king's pet. I noted the darting glances at Sookie and after tonight, such curiosity would be improper.

Against our best interests, I comforted her by pressing her at first inflexible body to lean back on my leg. My hand dug gently into her hair enjoying its soft feel on my fingers. She remained complacent and yielding, not questioning me with her eyes or words. As I had told her to do. I wanted her to look at me anyway. I wanted to remember how her eyelids had fluttered when she lay beneath me.

The more I touched and enjoyed her presence in front of other vampires, the more machinations I could expect towards her and myself. I was well on my way to not caring about this fact. Let them come.

While Eric was more than adequate for normal security, this particular situation was becoming far beyond the scope of a second to the king. My taking of a human would be common knowledge in the western hemisphere within an hour and my treatment of her would send mouths flapping in the breeze.

Each vampire here would look and decide for themselves what Sookie's position was with me and all would speculate on why she had one. Those who were categorically loyal, such as Rasul, Thalia, Chow, Felicia, Indira and Pam would not question my decision. And then there were neutral parties who would express only curiosity and a minor to medium interest in influencing the relationship to their advantage. It was vampire nature to push and manipulate, so it was not personally offensive that a few might send their humans to Sookie's side to be 'friends' with her.

The last and latter category of vampires, the power-hungry or those with a negatively vested interest in my rule, were not all equally problematic, if accounting solely for their ability to make good on their own motivations. But ensconced soundly in that category were Victor Madden of Nevada, Sophie-Anne and all her get, possibly Isabel of Texas and Jade Flower of Arkansas. Russell Edgington did not bother with having ambassadors, only spies. This was something I could understand and respect.

Monarchs had spies in the form of vampires, but most were restricted by cost and reach. There were only so many positions open to vampires in a monarch's court, and information, while important, only had value if it was proximate to a monarch's cause. Ie: Washington would never have a spy in Louisiana, but its king might share or buy the information of a single spy belonging to New York that was placed here in Louisiana.

For as well hidden as we were to humans, most monarchies were an open book to other supernaturals. There were obvious exceptions to this; no monarch would outsource or expose their own security and depending on the kind of income received they wouldn't allow anyone who wasn't loyal to know the day to day of that either. My kingdom's primary income was tourism, which wasn't anything that needed hiding.

The donors were now filing out of court, and having ignored my duties last time to spend the night with Sookie, I had to make up for what was pushed aside earlier. Then there was the matter of introducing Sookie. It had also occurred to me that I needed to tend to Eric and soothe him. It was cruel of me to force him to experience what I had with Sookie. After compelling him with a maker's command, I knew my child was likely in great emotional pain.

I was happy to note that he smelled faintly of fresh blood. He also had the scent of a shifter on him. Even in my own ignorance as to the inner workings of our security, I knew we did not have a shifter. Eric and I would have many things to discuss while Sookie was readying herself to read the donors.

Normally there would have been impatience on the part of the vampires present to leave. Not so tonight.

"As king of Louisiana I lay claim to this human, Sookie Stackhouse." I saw out of the corner of my eye that Sookie was blushing and she infused me with soft devotion. It was so good, an intoxicating sensation.

Eric grunted slightly, reminding me that when we were in proximity our bond was always more open than usual. He couldn't help but feel her, as he did the first time. Possessive anger shot through me and I shoved my tongue up against where my fangs would normally come out. I did not want Eric feeling her care for me.

Vampires shuffled, the smallest bits of fabric rubbing against each other as they moved. To a human, the room would have been dead silent.

"Bring forth any disputes." Eric said, using a deceptively idle and smooth voice.

None of Sophie-Anne's children were here tonight, I was pleased to note.

It was interesting that I could remember only a few days ago that I would not have cared less if Sophie-Anne and her ilk were running amok in my court and generally being a thorn in my and Eric's side. Now, the next time Sophie-Anne approached me I may very well rip her head off. She had no maker, so it wouldn't cost me. I would then take apart her children with glee.

Sookie's presence wouldn't deter the vampiress. If anything, my having taken up with anyone would encourage her pursuit of me for marriage or as a lover. But it would hurt Sookie to have to deal with anyone competing for me, whether they knew they had no hope or not.

"Your highness… I do so hate to impose, but unfortunately one of my retinue is being held in the rooms of a member of your court without probable cause." Victor stood before my throne, having droned on for some time before he had gotten to the meat of the subject. Sookie had tilted her head towards me and was looking at the ground by my feet. He hair lay loose about her shoulders and its waves barely came to the top of her hips. Without sparing a glance for Victor Madden, I spoke.

"What vampire of yours and what is he accused of?" My eyes were only for Sookie. She made me more alert and inebriated in the same breath. I was capable of being a more effective vampire and ruler with her, but whether I could do so while she was in my presence remained to be seen.

"Your majesty, please, had my personnel done anything untoward you would be the first I would notify-"

"I tire of you Victor. Your lies are what exhaust me, and the misfortune of me having to see your face is something that Felipe should have to pay me to endure." I let my eyes rise to meet Victor's and found that he was instead focused on Sookie.

There could have been rage in me. And if it were there, it came after the cold wasteland that accompanied my perpetration of violence and disappeared quickly. Anger was not a useful emotion when it came to committing acts of brutality effectively.

Victor's torn out eyes lay at the bottom of the stairs that led up to my dais and my hand was wrapped tightly around his throat. The vampires accompanying Victor had stepped back but I could see they were working up the courage to attack, trying to find a way to loosen me from the ambassador before I tore Madden's useless fucking head off. Victor, not to his credit, was howling.

Eric laughed, a deep-throated and masculine sound that spoke to my bloodlust. In turn, tension crept its way to my groin, warming and tightening.

"Hur mycket är Vicktor's följe värd? [How much is Victor's retinue worth?]" I said huskily to Eric. My child practically crooned his answer back to me. The rest of my court watched with rapt attention. While all the neutral parties had stayed put, knowing they had no part in this confrontation, my vampires had glided to the exit points of the room to catch any who might escape me.

"Inte tillräckligt för att rädda dem. Femton totalt, ingen över hundra år. Några miljoner, fem miljoner som mest." [Not enough to save them. Fifteen total, none over a hundred years. A few million, five million at most.] Eric's fearsome smile was not lost on Victor's attendants and a few had the sense to retract their fangs and slump their shoulders submissively as they backed up.

"Och vem håller vampyren Victor talar om?" [And who is holding the vampire Victor speaks of?] A small whimper abruptly interrupted my burgeoning plans of destruction and death.

Sookie.

"Tha-" My child began to speak before I cut him off.

"Eric, ta henne till mitt rum. Stanna hos henne och trösta henne. Ring ditt barn hem." [Eric, take her to my room. Stay with her and comfort her. Call your child home.] He did not fight me on this. I could not look at her as I felt and heard Eric sweep her up in his arms and move away.

Hisses and snarls were rising from the few vampires left with enough arrogance to threaten me. Victor had been fruitlessly clawing at my arm, my sleeves shredded and blood oozing out from the few marks he had managed to make. Mostly he was hysterical, and his lashing out was ill-planned on his part if he wanted to escape unscathed.

Unfortunately I could not kill Victor. Even with Pam returning, killing Felipe's ambassador would effectively be an act of war. One I would win, but would take me away from Sookie for longer than I cared for. There was always next time and I could feel my face contort into a sneer as I looked at the pathetic excuse for a vampire I was holding.

Victor's skull made a wonderful popping sound as it smacked the floor. With no time to savor how he looked lying at my feet, I tore into his compatriots. Those who would have ran found no time to. Their blood was everywhere and drops of it slipped their way into my mouth as I tore through their bodies.

It had been so long since I had done anything resembling this. Tragically, my age prevented any of it being a challenge to me, and their true deaths left me burning and hungry. For blood, for Sookie. I had a passing regret that she was still a virgin, because it would have been a lovely apéritif to pin her hips to the bed and slide into her roughly while she gasped and begged.

"Any more disputes?" I looked around, half hoping there were more to settle with bloody haste since I would not be finding the kind of relief I wanted in my fairy tonight. My eyes roamed around the room and I noted a few of my people nodding in acknowledgement at my display of dominance. Thalia, a grecian vampire only 400 years older than I, had a heated expression of excitement written on her face.

We had met in the Eurasian Steppes when Eric was barely 200. It was the beginnings of the Mongolian empire and we spent the next sixty years following the armies of the Khan's and their generals, our bellies full of blood.

Eric's utterance of half the vampire's name was all I needed to hear to know it was Thalia. While irascible, Thalia was reliable and her sense of justice was acceptable to me. Newly-made vampires may not like her version of "the rules", but they made sense from the perspective of an ancient vampire.

When there was no answer from a single vampire, I continued speaking.

"Any who so much as drop fang in the direction of what is mine will find themselves facing the true death. You are all dismissed." I gestured at my constituents while stepping forward and over Victor's prone form. He was currently healing; I had thrown him at the ground hard enough to keep him out for ten to twenty minutes.

While I was no longer truly boy death, wearing the mask and acting as though I was would be useful to me. After this display, however, I could anticipate a slew of marriage and alliance proposals. To not receive one from any of the states surrounding me would be an insult and an unspoken threat of war.

If vampires sighed as humans did when having to do something irritating, I would have. Killing every single monarch near me would be time consuming, but doable. Only Russell Edgington of Mississippi could be relied upon to stay the fuck away from me and mine. My respect for him was not reluctant; my experience with him had been positive in only a way vampires could consider such interactions.

He had killed several of my spies who got sloppy and sent parts of their bodies to me in gift boxes and a handwritten note about why he removed the part he did. Mostly, Russell would simultaneously compliment and insult me by recreating the results of torture that I had been famous for when I was boy death. Since I was him no longer, it was a very slight way of showing some amount of disrespect. In turn, while I was not particularly interested in the details, I had Eric send thank you cards for each along with a gift of a new torture device each time. This was to indicate that Russell ought to become more civilized, such as myself, instead of using rudimentary tools from the past.

Russell likely knew of the majority of my spies, as I did his. Edward had been an irritating exception. The human had been well placed, being in charge of serving my blood and assisting my day person. This was not a situation in which I could simply thank him for giving me a human to drain. An example had to be made.

Normally when Eric caught Russell's careless spies, he would send Russell tasteful gifts made from parts of the humans. Bones carved into beautiful scenes of celtic worship, reminiscent of where and when Russell had been turned. Leather gloves for handling silver made from human skin. A violin strung with human hair and tuning pegs of bone. Russell's consort, Talbot, was thrilled with these gifts.

Yes, as far as vampires could be, outside their bloodline and immediate council, Russell and I were on good terms.

Rasul and Thalia made their way to me as Felicia and Indira made sure the hall was emptied promptly.

"Θα χρειαστεί να ξεφορτωθώ αυτόν που έχω εγώ. Ήπιε από τον ημερήσιο επιστάτη μου" [The one I have shall be disposed of. He drank of my day person.] I nodded to her and she vamped away, leaving me with Rasul, who had a wry smile that he had been wearing since the death of Victor's attendants.

"The unattached donors are ready and all vampires know they cannot leave that room for the next several hours. Bags of blood were preemptively delivered to the quarters of those without donors. I will escort each donor to the office prepared and wait until you are finished. Eric will manage the donor room to ensure cooperation on the part of the donors and vampires. The hidden panel you asked for is in place. No one besides a vampire will be able to tell there is anything behind it."

"Very good Rasul. I will be there in an hour to get started. Deal with this." I didn't bother to gesture at Victor's body.

"Of course. Your majesty, if I may, what is the meaning of setting up this questioning of the humans so meticulously? Are we not using the same methods as we have always used? Do we have a new way of examining the minds of humans?" I kept my mask fluid. Eventually, a vampire could learn to control every minute movement to mimic any expression necessary. I could lie with ease and never be discovered. Not even by my own child.

"It is a precaution. As you can see, I have awoken from a stupor. It is time to reclaim what areas of my monarchy I have left to the hands of others." This was a reasonable explanation that Rasul could carry with him and distribute to the masses. I was relying upon him to do so, even.

"Your majesty." Rasul bowed and sped away. He had the sense to not ask about Sookie. I would have made him hurt for that, ally or no. Not until her safety was assured would the subject of my lover be under any sort of discussion.

***Eric***

Sookie was tense in my arms. I did not have to suspect the reasons for her stiff body and lack of complaint that she was being handled by me. Though the fairy was overreacting. She had seen but an iota of the violence that vampires were capable of. That Godric was capable of. I held back a shiver as my mind went back to the image of Godric holding Victor out in front of him with that look on his face. The one that cowed many into submission. The one that had been the last thing many a vampire had seen. The look that, once whatever had made Godric irritated was finished bleeding out into a puddle, morphed into one of pure lust. His lips would curl and his tongue dart out to lick his mouth in anticipation as he would languidly let his gaze fall upon me. The bond would pull and often yank me down to my knees in front of him. He'd fist his hand in my hair, and I would know then that the night would be full and long.

The hybrid was ungrateful when it came to my master's attentions, truly.

I made an effort to lay her gently upon the bed and she rolled out of my arms, pulling her legs tight to her chest. The salt of her tears hovered in the air and I saw them emerge from her eyes, plump with fear and sadness. Her fire would have been preferable, because this was pathetic.

"It's alright now." The words tumbled out of my mouth and they felt like the lies they were. It wasn't going to be all right for this useless creature. I hoped she did not pressure Godric to not be violent, because it wouldn't end well for her. At this point, I was concerned that even if Godric killed her himself in a pique of fury that he might go off the deep end. So I'd try to help soothe her. For Godric's sake.

I moved to sit on the side where I could see her face. Instead of sprawling out in front of her, I kept my limbs close to my body to signal to her that I was tame. That I was somehow unlike the vampire she had met previously. I pushed my usual instinct to dispose of her down and attempted to exude meekness.

My skills at comforting were practically nonexistent, but I would try, for Godric.

"It's not ok." She whispered. The tightness with which she held her muscles were exacerbating her negative feelings. I could not touch her to relieve her of this tension, however. If my scent were found anywhere on her bare skin, I couldn't be sure that Godric wouldn't retaliate. Not that I wanted to touch her at all. She was many things, but it all came down to her being dangerous. To my maker, to me, to this kingdom. But, having seen my maker claw his way through enemies and bystanders alike in his rage, I was not eager to again press the matter regarding the inherent menace that is Sookie Stackhouse with my master.

Looking down at her, I felt the pull of her fae blood. She was light itself, recumbent before me. The delicate veins dancing under her exposed skin begged to be coaxed to attention with a nip of fang. All of her sensuality was made more profound by the haze of sex that still hung heavy and humid in the room, only cut with her shed tears. Fucking fairies. Can't live with them, can't shove your cock deep inside them and drink one's self stupid, unless you want to die a gruesome death. I was perversely proud of my maker for not having ended her before me in a single night, even if that was my original desire and intent. His control was unrivaled.

"Godric has protected you." I said, thinking thate perhaps she would understand that there is a great amount of good in what he did, killing Victor's entourage. There was also the bad aspect of it, that it was a declaration of intent and as such would merit a similar response from Felipe De Castro, the king of Nevada. Hence why she called Pam back to us. If she only knew the consequences for my maker.

While there was no true way to keep her safe, we were safer if Godric were judged as having been removed from his waking-down-time of an existence if he was going to take a pet. Everyone knew of Godric's distance from the current workings of the world and how he was mostly dissociated from everyone and everything. That was now changed, and with it a new type of rule could be possible.

"No, he attacked someone unprovoked and gouged out his eyes!" Finally she spoke, her arms moved quickly to push her body up so she could look at me with red rimmed eyes, damp hair pasted to her face. Would Godric punish me for revealing the meaning of his actions against Victor?

"It was necessary. And he ripped them out. They will grow back." Victor deserved it. That filthy blood stain of a vampire had been asking to have his bodyparts adorn the walls of our torture chambers for years. I would have paid the fines myself earlier if it was something Godric would have approved of. It was just as good that we'd be sending Madden back to the king of Nevada. The fine was absolutely worth it.

"Barbaric! Like hell it was needed!" Her shouting in my face was more irritation than I could handle without showing her any ire.

"Look human, you know nothing of this world. Unwilling or no, you come waltzing into our midst and capture the attention of one of the oldest and most feared vampires on the continent, nay, the world. The consequences for vampire-kind are larger than the scope of Godric and his kingdom. Yes, he needed to show he was willing to defend you. His harsh retaliation for another's coveting you is a warning to others that Godric is not to be trifled with, and thus, you keeping your life is ensured. This is a good thing, it means he cares for you and wishes no harm to come to you."

"And he couldn't tell that creepy vampire to go away, being so awesomely feared? Why must violence be the answer?!" She slammed her fists down on the bed. Crying forgotten, her celeste-blue eyes were wide as she challenged me without any caution for her life, which had become par for the course with her. I should have finished my hunt with her when she tried to escape. There was no good reason to have taken her back in, I had let my waste not, want not habit get in the way of assessing the true nature of the matter. A human who could not be glamored should have been killed immediately. If I could do it over again, the only thing I would have carried inside would have been her cold corpse.

"I suppose I should not expect you to understand that we are not human. Your human way is nothing like our way. Our natures do not allow it. The true curse of being vampire is the unabating hunger for blood. Never mind the inconvenience of silver and being consigned to the night. No, it is the need for blood that is all-consuming, indiscriminate to age, and drives us towards power, since power is necessary to control every aspect of our craving. Unlike you, we cannot walk the world freely and we cannot glut ourselves on food, food that comes with a high cost. As such, our code of behavior amongst vampires must be absolute. No mistakes can be made on our part because discovery of one of us leads to the discovery of us all. You should know that a vampire's appetites are never curbed. We are never satiated, and this reality breeds mistakes that must be dealt with violently, lest it be misunderstood that such ineptitude is allowed. That vampire's mistake was coveting you. If he is allowed to do so with impunity, he is only a few steps closer to taking you for himself, and this would be.. Unpleasant for you. He personally cares nothing for the value of human life. His ilk is content with assuming the slavery of humans will be acceptable indefinitely. Tell me, human, what happens when your kind find out about us and if they see our worst offenders going unpunished? What will humans do if they see we live in a world without law?"

"Again, violence doesn't educate anyone on why they shouldn't do a thing."

"I never said it did. Our hunger leads us to killing and the only thing that keeps our inherent selfishness from following the beat of a human's heart into death, is fear. Fear of the true death at the hands of a mob. We have no morals, no kindness or love to offer you. Only possessiveness for things that are ours and the necessary violence to enforce that reality. It is for the best, Sookie Stackhouse. It is the only concern we can grant that we preserve your life. Victor did not rise this night and suddenly covet something that belonged to another. He always has and will always do so and he will only cease acting on it if his undead life is threatened sufficiently. Because he is firstly, hungry, and secondly, a foolish vampire not cut out for immortality. The Victors of our world never go away, and they only cease their machinations when put down by a force greater than them. But no, they never stop believing in their right to have whatever they want."

"Godric is different. Even you are different." Her voice was hoarse and insistent.

"We are disciplined. Disciplined monsters and adept at hiding our ever-hollow insides from our prey. Your dislike of this does not change what is." Remembering Godric's orders, I knew I had walked a close line to being cruel to her and outing Godric as being a true vampire. But in a way, I was helping him. If she believed in Godric, adding new information to the matter wouldn't change her mind. It would only push her to believe more thoroughly in Godric's 'goodness'. As for Godric, he may punish me later for this. But if my methods were sound and worked, it would be a trifling thing to face his wrath. This was how I circumvented my maker's command.

"You see only from inside the cage of your small, backwards little world and its rituals. I think that you and other vampires haven't changed because you are insular and unwilling to look outside of yourselves for improvement or self acceptance. Victor was entitled to his thoughts and his eyes. It wasn't like I would have gone along with him. I can't be glamored, remember."

"Says the human who was almost killed by a Werewolf. If you choose to believe that your commitment to my maker alone protects you from forced blood taking, rape or death in ascending order of awfulness, it is you who has shackled herself to a microcosm idiocy. Is it difficult being protected by an ancient immortal? Do you wish for the time to be torn apart by other vampires who can smell how delectable you are from a mile away?" If possible, her eyes went wider and her spine straightened even further. It encouraged me to continue with my diatribe.

"Do you understand that your life is at stake? Even if Godric were to let you go home, others would come for you now. How you remained unscented by our kind sooner is a mystery." It was only a few seconds before she caved, her fists clenching and unclenching with soft waves of pain pulsing in her scent. It did not smell pleasing, and it was strong enough to taste in the air. Its caustic composition burned. If being close to her meant feeling and scenting all this, I did not want it. Nor was I willing to do anything about how badly she felt. Yes, she deserved it.

Her shoulders slumped now, reason finding triumph over her outrage.

"So you're telling me Godric only wants me for my blood?" She would not want to hear that this is exactly what I thought, and I refrained from saying it, letting silence answer the question. Watching her face crumple, my lack of response made her scent uglier, if possible.

Unbearable. Godric cannot get here soon enough.

We sat in silence now. I kept watch over the doorway, willing it to open and bring Godric through it so I could leave. The bond was still tight, and I could not tell where he was except that he was not in close range.

"What do you mean to him?" The nastiness hovering in the air lessened as she pivoted away from her sorrows. She was probably asking this question in the hopes that if I meant something to Godric, then maybe she would too.

"I am his child, but also his father, brother. And more than this. I would say he is my everything, but it is more like we are each other's. He made me, and I have made him."

You cannot have this with him. Was unspoken.

"Then what am I to him?" I looked down at my hands. They had a mind of their own and were clutching the bedspread tenaciously. Always in control, with the exception of anything having to do with my maker, I fought against my own plan to try be closer to her. In no way would I fall prey to the same allure that my maker had tumbled into.

But, what she said reminded me of my own question for Godric that I had yet to put into words. What was I now to my maker? Our need was not so different, and my plans to piggyback on Godric's affections for her required that she feel there was a path to him.

But… it still felt beyond my own volition as I spoke next.

"I don't know, but it is important. You must know he has never consorted with a human. Before me, that is."

The door swung open and my maker stood there, his eyes wild. Vampire blood covered him and it reminded me of an untitled painting we had acquired from the artist Jackson Pollock.

"Leave." I did not need to be told twice.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N

Ok, it's about to get morally fuzzy. Just sayin'.

***Sookie***

He stood in the doorway, barefoot and soaked in red. I took in his person, my insides wrenching as I tried to reconcile what I knew of Godric. Vampire, ancient, survived through years of hiding from the outside world. In the lines of his body I saw the monster inside slither through him, his eyes alight with something feral and lusty. Could such a creature both love and dole out pain so easily? And would love, or at least contentment, stop him from causing further suffering to others?

It wasn't something I could answer at the moment. His eyes looked like pits of grey, empty darkness and full of things that lived in the shadows. This was what we feared in the darkness. The Godric's of the world, pacing back and forth just outside the light of our primitive hearth-fire beckoning us with the promise that it would be different, _different_ than the last fool who took death by the hand and walked out into nothingness with him.

In my mind's eye I watched the scene in front of his throne take place again and again.

Godric's hand took Victor's throat. No, his grip was simply _there_ and the eyes of the vampire were a wet thunk on the ground. Godric's hand took Victor's throat again…. Small dots of warm liquid dotted my skin.

I wanted the vampire before me to be incongruous to the lover I had hours before, and my mind spun when that fact wouldn't change. As calmly as he had held Victor, he had held me. He could do it now. He looked liked he wanted to. Like he wanted to possess me.

"Sookie…" His voice was dulcetly serene, not patronizing or begging. In place of the softness I expected to see in his features was pure longing that could have been mistaken for begging. It was all _wrong_ and twisted, his sweetness, covered in someone else's blood. So why was it still calling to me?

"No, don't say my name as if this changes what you did." My voice creaked, but didn't break. He tilted his head in what must be mock confusion. How anyone could have been confused, even a- no, _especially_ an immortal person such as himself? I felt rising ire color and darken my thoughts, and any semblance of control I had over my emotions began slipping away and I didn't care about holding tightly to it anymore.

Before, I had raged at Eric with careful conviction. Now I wanted to pound my fists onto Godric's perfect chest, red soaked and all, and scream at him for what had had done. His actions were against nature, against humanity, against _me._

He had smothered a dream of mine that he wasn't _like that._ That he was beyond being a competent demon, and was instead penitent and willing to be something else. I was so certain, so sure that he was the one stuck believing in a false dilemma that only needed to be shown, guided towards the light. That was before Eric.

"It was necessary. And this has been discussed between us." Words. He presumed to smooth this over in order to cover his deviance.

No, it wasn't quite that he misled me.

No, no. I should I be angry with myself for not _listening_ carefully.

He quirked a smile at me, and it wasn't out place like I felt it should be. It was not quite duping, but pleased, and so close to sincere I ached to believe that he wasn't deeply embedded with a natural propensity to violence. Happier feelings pushed back on the tension inside me and I felt out of body, observing my own internal state in a tug of war, of wanting and needing to separate from this.

The inexplicable joy I felt only served to affirm that this was a madhouse.

A small giggle crept its way up my throat and I choked it back down. I wouldn't break down, not in front of him. I know, after the incident with Debbie, a normal person would have given in or given up by now. But not a Stackhouse. And not when my telepathy had earned me the ability to summon a robotic response on command.

I let that old instinct move through me, confident and quick. My defense mechanisms unfurled themselves over the information I had before me. Quickly, I picked up the scraps of my argument with Eric and formed them into something coherent to say to the man who had supposedly defended me from some great threat.

"That kind of action was not 'discussed', but we certainly can talk about it now. Violence was not the answer there. I said it to Eric, and he had a chance to convince me it was necessary. But wasn't Godric. It really wasn't."

What I said wasn't completely hollow, but it held a sound that was less than full and complete. Less believable. While Eric had lectured me, I felt less and less sure of what I was saying. All of my arguments had been clear cut and had seemed so obvious. Now it was all scattered and I couldn't dwell on any data-points that applied to vampires more than humans. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, vampires don't exist and thus there are no studies on how they _are._ The idea of not knowing a single thing about an entire sentient species that had been living side by side with us for who knows how long was singularly surreal. Each time I asked my mind for an answer it whispered about the impossibility of vampires, werewolves and the supernatural. My faculties floundered and I could feel the confusion seeping into my long-standing beliefs about what was right and wrong. Still, the iron grip on face and words remained, even if my insides stretched themselves taut enough to tear.

"Please, he has already regrown his eyes and is going home. It was a minor punishment comparatively, and it was expected for his behavior." Godric's voice was level and all too casual sounding, and I faltered. I wanted to believe in its sounds of safety, its sure-seeming truth.

"But… he only looked at me. That's all, really." I husked out, the timbre of my voice unintentional, vulnerable.

Even after Eric had taken some of my arguments out behind the shed and shot them, I found their deflated corpses and resurrected them for Godric. Eric's words about the possession and hunger vampires had niggled their way into my psyche, but stubbornly it wasn't something I wanted Godric to know. It was one thing for me to realize that I might not be right, but it didn't necessarily make his actions correct either.

"No," he slashed his hand through the air sharply and all but sneered, "it is not a look, Sookie. It is a threat. A promise that if my back is turned, he will take you. The blood on me is irrelevant."

Outrage looked good on him, to devastating effect. Godric was boyishly handsome but when he glowered, his eyes were akin to looking down into a well. They ate light; too much so to belong to someone young. The way he set his jaw gave him a look of determination and ownership that wouldn't look amiss belonging to a CEO in a company's boardroom hell-bent on a hostile takeover of another company.

A wave of guilt at allowing my mind to wax on about Godric's beauty swept over me. But… he was attractive in his righteousness, and my knowing it meant that in some way, this was how he was meant to be.

He may not be god, but he had a right, perhaps a divine right given to those like him, to judge others.

And I certainly was no deity that I could dictate what was inherently good and evil; I only knew that Godric's void, the space that would have been a human's mind, was the largest of all in the compound and as I reached out to touch it now I felt it subsuming me. When I let myself feel the vacancy in the air as fully as I dared, it would feel so teasingly substantial. Like it was a tangible thing that had its own wants, needs.

His firm rebuttal, and not-so-secretly the way touching _him_ with my my made me feel, now tugged at my heart and made me feel longing for an agreeable end to this conversation, despite how at odds our beliefs were.

The world inside here may be crazy, but he seemed certain as he told me that all this was necessary, that maybe it would never happen to me again. The whole of society could fragment, implode and Godric wouldn't fall with it.

He began walking towards me at a leisurely pace now, every bit the predator. I saw the same rawness on him that existed in Eric's expression when he looked at me, if for different reasons. Slowly he crept, approaching me head on, and time squeezed itself into bigger pieces. Or so it felt, as my mind raced.

Even with Debbie I had tried to explain her behavior within the paradigm of being human. But there was very little that was human about such extreme violence being done so quickly to someone she didn't know. Most humans hurt those close to them, whereas Debbie's actions were calculated based on how she could elevate herself, and potentially Yvetta, by eliminating me. While it made it easier to accept what she did, I was still knee-jerk compelled to find a different, more emotional, reason for what happened.

There wasn't though.

I hadn't done anything specific to Debbie, just like Victor hadn't done anything specific to me. And, following the same logic, he would have done something as brutal as Debbie had done, had he felt he wanted something I had.

Godric came ever closer, and I tried to not be afraid. I wasn't Godric's victim. He stopped a few feet away from the bed and stared at me with an unreadable expression.

"I hear you Godric. But believing you means that everything is changed. This wasn't what I thought." His void fluctuated outward, and small pulses of fear crept into my posture and I bowed my head, unable to keep my eyes on him any longer. He didn't make a sound, and I felt his displeasure acutely.

I let my gaze drift to an empty spot on the bed. This was all so tangled and knotted up into things that were hopelessly irredeemable, even as I had the optimism to hope anyway.

Despite the violence, I know that Godric didn't lie that I meant something to him, even if we had only met each other days ago. Regardless of his care, I did see how he might always take matters into his own hands without what I would consider due process or compromise. I had always believed that it was important to be respected in a relationship. To have my opinion taken seriously. But I couldn't see a middle ground if my beliefs were so far in one direction and his in another. If we were two different species, living in different societies.

Had Eric been more honest than Godric? Had he been trying to tell me that Godric wasn't what I thought? Godric deserved some credit for trying to be honest, but it was Eric's carefully placed words that had finally revealed and clarified the workings of this place to me. Not even Debbie's cuts had been so effective.

Godric must have sensed he had lost me and I heard him take another step forward.

"I am going to come sit by you and we will talk about this." I snapped my face up to look at him moving towards me warily, as if I was now the one who might bite.

"Not covered in his blood you aren't." I stupidly inhaled at the thought and gagged at the smell. It was more than the scent, however. I felt a certain responsibility towards that blood.

He blurred away in front of me and I heard the water run in the bathroom. Watching vampires move quickly had been at first interesting, but now it was terrifying to think of vampires running down humans. I wondered, when I didn't want to, what it would be like to give in to fear, turn on my heel and race away from him. Would he catch me and put his hand around my throat? Would he hold me off the ground, one leg grinding in between mine while he dragged his fangs along my skin? It wasn't difficult to draw a parallel between how dominating he was in the bedroom and how effective he had been in putting down a perceived threat.

I screwed my eyes shut as the water continued to flow in the background. I thought of Godric standing nude in its stream rubbing the dried blood away, and then I tried not to think of that at all. Did vampires wash themselves as fast as they could move? Or did they take their time, luxuriating as humans were wont to do? Maybe he was reliving what happened, too. He probably wasn't regretting it.

Staying with Godric now felt out of the question. Pain flared, hot and warped in my gut. I didn't want to watch images dipped in blood from behind my eyelids when I slept, or find myself with him intimately only to remember something that his hands had done. But when I closed my eyes now, the sensation of his fingers running along my thighs ruled supreme over the incident with Victor.

 _Manners Ms. Stackhouse._

It was supposed to be easy to break up with someone who had and would continue to hurt others.

The sudden movement next to me caused me to jump. We locked eyes and I sucked in a breath that constricted my entire chest. He was dripping water from his hair down his bare chest, looking achingly intense. The way the lights reflected off the sheen of moisture on his torso didn't aid my self control or conviction to separate myself from him one iota. Beautiful things shouldn't be capable of great evil. They really shouldn't.

I was stuck here with him, even if we weren't in a relationship, and the future promised more of the same danger and savagery, if Godric was to be believed. It occurred to me that maybe telepaths do not find their happily ever afters.

He must have seen my bitter and conflicted feelings written out on my face, because he reached out to cup my cheek. I pulled my head back, disinterested in what the feel of his skin on mine would add to the mess inside me.

"I know it was a lot to show you at first. If I could have prevented it, I would have. I do not know what Eric has said, but I will say that I did not make a promise to commit no acts of force. If my kingdom is not ruled, my court, Eric, you, the donors and myself are all in terrible danger. It is not the way I would manage my affairs, if I could. But it is how my world must be run. Going against the established methods of my kind would guarantee my death, and by extension yours. Please understand I do the best I can, and I do nothing that is unnecessary."

"I want to believe you. I really do, and- and I'm not trying to sound vapid in that there isn't a need for order. I've lived my whole life listening to the horrors inside others' heads, but I never expected any of them to be acted out in any capacity and for the most part, humans don't. Now I know vampires are different, but you all were once human..."

"But we are not. If I was a human, I may agree with your assessment of tonight. Though contrary to your insistence that humans do not commit an abundance of violence, I have seen more than is sufficient to judge them masters of it. You have a sampling problem when it comes to your judgement of your own… kind. You live in a rural county inside one of the, if not most, internally stable and non-violent countries on this planet. It's likely that no other country has ever been safer when it comes to avoiding systematic violence and war. But let me assure you, slavery, rape and killing are occurring at this very moment, it is being perpetrated by humans and they are good at it." He stopped, letting his points settle in. Appreciation thrummed through me; what he said was something I could understand. He was giving me a way to be right, too, instead of feeling out of depth. That there _was_ a sampling problem hadn't presented itself to me before.

"Sookie, we're not human. Not at all. If anything we're a particular kind of magic that has taken over a dead human body much in the way a parasite would and has preserved its survival skills for its own benefit. We may look like you, but you can assume that this is a convenient and mayhap not coincidental, but deliberately deceptive form for us to maintain. We look like our food and our food is attracted to us." His hands moved again to touch my body and I repressed all of the emotions that would cause me to quake under his touch. The massaging started on my thigh with one hand while the other looped around my waist, pulling me ever closer. It wasn't quite fear that was stuck in my throat. There should have been some kind of apprehension and terror, but there was only relief.

I was relieved because I was beginning to believe him, even as I knew that the underlying barbarity of vampires was a fact and that it would rear its head again and again. Even Godric's sexual attention had been fervent and dominant, with the threat of sexual savagery underneath. He was calmly explaining this to me, and he spoke like someone who always expected to win the argument, like someone who would find every avenue to erode another's point of view that didn't mesh with his agenda. And I couldn't even hate him for that, given how vampires had likely been hunted for so long as to leave only the toughest and cleverest survivors alive.

 _The best of all of them. Godric._

It looked like I would be giving in to him, maybe not now, but at least at some point. And the dangers of not doing so, when he was capable of the obvious, were clear. I wasn't sure he would hurt me, but I recognized now the glint in his eyes from our time before matched the one he had when he held the other vampire by the throat. All of these passions were inextricably linked.

Godric took my silence as leave to continue.

"We as a species do not see the purpose of changing our behavior. It's a noble pursuit to become less violent, but we must defend ourselves or die. I must defend you or you will die."

"Then hide me, Jesus christ shepherd of Judea just take me away from all this! Take yourself away and stop!" Inside I started to shatter with the realization that I was about to agree with him. That I was about to let this injustice and future ones like it, slide away into worse ones.

Yet I was begging Godric to not be himself and though it was truly selfish, I couldn't stop.

"It is not so simple-"

"Yes it is! It fucking is!" My own voice was a hopeless wail, and I knew he knew the score. He kept his gentle rubbing and caresses up, focusing on the tense parts in my back and pulling me closer to him so our bodies were flush together. When he pressed his lips to my ear I bit back a sob.

"Sookie, no. We would be pursued. I could not defend you every waking moment. My claim means nothing if I will not protect it. Conflict will find us no matter where we are. It is part our nature and partly who I am. Sookie, I know I am guilty. Very guilty." His voice dropped to a quieter whisper.

"I know you are. I know and I-" He cut me off with a bruising kiss and I could feel his fangs on my lips, pressing and cutting. His hands wrenched me down to the bed and he was straddling me now, and I watched him slowly curl his body over mine as his gaze absorbed me beneath him. He looked less human, his skin pale and eyes dilated, his face eerily still but for his moving lips.

"You are too valuable. If I let you go, you would be taken away and kept enslaved by others. Punish me if you will, but you cannot leave." He dragged his fingers along my cheek before gripping my chin possessively. Shamelessly he tilted his hips down and grazed my stomach with the base of his erection, smiling impishly, cruelly. I groaned unthinkingly and dragged it out into speech.

"I don't truly understand, but I do know it's not a game Godric, for me to punish you for disobedience! And I don't know if I believe you, but because you believe it… I guess... it doesn't matter." I looked away across the room, away from his devouring stare, not wanting to acknowledge how close his face was to me now or the weight and shape of his body on mine. It would be so good to crawl deep inside my shields and never come out, to let go and live only to crave the sensations he provided my body. I didn't like the effect he had on me, that he could stop me mid-sentence with need for him, that I wanted him even as he was pinning me to the bed and forcing my human morality to swallow his arguments.

I registered painfully then, that I was wanting him to do that. To help me cease prolonging the pain of our differences and instead fulfill his mayhap empty promises. The aching in me didn't care if his words were hollow; that part of me believed beyond belief that Godric would take care of me and that this was all that mattered, given that no one had ever truly cared unconditionally for me anyway but for my grandmother. My friends and brother loved me, but they feared me.

Godric did not for the latter, and the former held potential. Yet the rest of me was still an awakening dream of red that assured me these times of killing would never have an end. Godric would repeat these events and this part of me would despair while the other part rejoiced. But if his actions left my humanity in tatters and me desolate, he could penetrate and suffuse me with his own truth. It seemed so easy, and tempting to just take everything he was offering, and I squirmed under him solely due to the dreadfulness of my thoughts.

"A game, mo ghràdh, is a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles." He still held my jaw in hand, fingers deceptively loose on the curve of it. I looked up at him and I felt bursts of pained lust low and deep. He had the grace to not smile and mock me, but none of the self restraint to not press himself further down on my body as he talked. I felt his right leg move to seek entry between mine, and finding it, he pulled his other in to push my legs apart. Every inch of him was solid and real on me; chest, groin, legs. He was so firm and _there_ I wanted to coalesce with him and no longer be Sookie Stackhouse. The sudden and excruciating pull to feel the bare skin of his chest on mine sent electric pangs straight to my chest.

"Do you find me not necessary? Do I… matter?" He asked. They weren't questions, as he unhurriedly busied himself with our burgeoning foreplay. Both his hands were now moving down my sides, my head free to loll back with unabashed pleasure if I wanted to take it.

"It's not…" He let go of my chin and pushed a single finger into my mouth and I instinctively sucked. The sound of it was debauched, all suction and saliva and forbidden.

"We can step back. I'll offer you the same deal as before mo ghràdh. What do you think, hmm?" His finger worked itself in and out from between my lips, exploring gently the insides of my mouth and tongue, making me feel indolent with pleasure. It was so new, and so good each time and another moan rippled up from my diaphragm and hummed around his finger. I could hear him chuckle and then felt him grind himself down on me all the harder.

***Godric***

She was sprawled out underneath me, unwillingness gone and replaced with an ever-climbing need for my touch. I enjoyed watching and feeling her thoughts fade into the obscurity of her indulgence, the jolts of desire with each press of my body to hers rebounding their way back through the blood. The thousand ways she said yes to me in our connection were inciting a riot of demands from all parts of me. I leaned in close, glancing my lips along her hairline as I listened to the soft and sweet sounds of her mouth.

"I know you agreed to be mine once already, but I'll give you the choice again. I know this is hard for you, so I won't _do_ anything to make it any more difficult after this. You'll have to forgive me this moment, however." I wedged another finger in more forcefully and pushed down far enough to make her head jerk before retracting them. Dragging my wet fingers along her lips in a languid motion before plumbing her depths again, I continued.

"Know that you'll always be under my protection and I'll give you the _employment_ you seek. But as for this... " Licking a broad section of skin on her neck, I reluctantly withdrew my fingers from her mouth before sitting up astride her. She tasted like a divine mix of fear and want, the feel of her heartbeat drumming away on my tongue calling me back.

"Come to me again, when you want me badly enough." I stood up now, wrenching myself away and leaving her dazed and flattened on the bed.

"Vampire society will march on, as it always has, but I will wait, for now. I'll see you in an hour for your reading of my employees." I smirked as I watched her lift herself up gingerly, lips slightly plump and red from use.

They could have endured more of it, more than prying fingers.

It was best for all involved that this fascination with non-violent resolution between vampires ended and that Sookie gave credence to what was truly important to the both of us; her place as my companion.

Strange that it was this moment that I knew she would be my child someday. But it was true; I cared about disabusing her of the notion that vampires could in any way be relied upon to not be brutish, self-serving monsters because there lay a future before us where she would need to know that for a fact. But for myself and Eric, she should trust no one. She should obey no one but me. And unlike Eric, who I had fashioned to never submit to anyone besides me, I wanted her most of all to be the entire archive of my heart and for others to know it.

Eric never yielded in public, but her plush skin and heady scent was made for capitulation to me. She could be as headstrong as Eric, I sensed, but belaying that I could feel her deep seated need for acceptance and purpose. As her maker, I could provide that and more. I could give her a place, a home.

Turning her would also help resolve underlying issues with Eric, that much I knew. He would want to partake in acclimating her, if she were a vampire. Eric's progeny would also express interest in Sookie, her tastes being almost exclusively female. She would be easily deterred with a command, yet still, in the present the only other vampire I could truly safeguard Sookie with was Eric. It was fortuitous that Eric disliked her, given that he wouldn't be allowed a single touch for longer than I cared to plan for such a day ever coming.

My blood in her fluttered and its wings beat at her rib cage as she regained a semblance of control. The power inherent in the connection we had would have been strong enough to hold a human completely in thrall without glamor. Instead, I felt pushes of resistance sporadically. And it was good, knowing that even if another vampire found a way to get their blood into her, that unless they were my age, it wouldn't be easy to control her with her fae heritage and dae gift.

"I can't… this choice isn't a fair one, or a real one." She rubbed her lips with two fingers, staring off in my direction, deliberately focusing on some invisible point in front of me. I could feel intimately her confusion, her desire to walk straight into my arms and submit from fighting against a more rational need for escape. And I wanted that, no matter how cruel it was to take her fleeting human values and corrupt them to my purpose. If she wouldn't come now, she would later crawl back, trembling with need.

No. It wasn't fair at all.

"It wasn't fair that you were isolated away from your own friends and family by your ability to read their thoughts, yet you lived alone anyway, feared by your friends and neighbors." I felt a hot spike of anger, and I restrained myself from taking a step forward and governing her emotions with my physical presence and blood.

It didn't help that I wondered what that anger tasted like.

"You're rigging this Godric. I won't come to you, and you can't make me." It was too much to hear her say no but feel her say _yes_. Too much like Eric and all of things that brought out that terrible need to _take_ and _own_ that I thought had diminished into nothing but apathy. Instead, all these dark, writhing feelings sat resplendent before me.

Her vexation was a honeyed sound, calling me to sharpen her angles into weapons and grind all the parts of her I wanted to fit me into perfect existence.

Just as I loved that Eric was a warrior of renown that was wholly mine, I would make the woman in front of me something equally seductive and valued.

Something coveted, like the Viking.

The thought of both of them tethered to my side warranted my methods.

"I never said I was fair."


End file.
